Dirty Little Secret
by Riley Bernard
Summary: When someone's secret comes out in the open, Callie and Arizona must deal with the consequences. Arizona feels like her whole world has been turned upside down. Callie is there to help her make sense of it all.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first multi-chapter Calzona fic! Not only is this my first attempt at something larger than a one-shot, it's also my first time writing something that isn't simply a missing scene – so basically it's my first time coming up with the plot completely on my own. Following the canon of Calzona's story line, this story would take place anytime after the wedding. Basically anywhere in season 8. Enjoy….**

Today was Arizona's day off. It was also Callie's day off. Despite the fact that both women made a conscious effort to coordinate their time off, it didn't always work out, and today was their first shared break in over two weeks. So the fact that Arizona was currently signing charts at the nurses station did not thrill the blonde, on the contrary, the annoyance she felt at her present situation seemed to be coming off of her in waves and most of the staff had been doing their best to stay out of her way since her arrival four hours earlier…

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie and Arizona lay sound asleep, curled up in their bed. Callie was spooned in snugly behind Arizona, one arm draped over her waist, Arizona's hand lying on top of Callie's. Both women were jolted awake as a high-pitched beeping filled the room. Callie made to pull her arm away to check her pager, but Arizona tightened her grip on Callie's hand, tugging it firmly across her body. Callie chuckled at her wife's actions, and shifted to free her other arm from underneath herself. Rolling onto her stomach for a second, she grabbed her pager off of her bedside table and glanced at it before dropping it back on the table and rolling back onto her side.

"It's not mine," Callie said softly, pressing a kiss into Arizona's shoulder.

Arizona rolled over and buried her face in Callie's neck. "It's not mine either," came the muffled reply, and Callie laughed. "No," Arizona continued to whine against Callie's skin. "I'm not working today. I'm sleeping. I'm sleeping in and I'm spending the day with you and Sofia. I'm not going to the hospital at," she lifted her head from Callie's neck to glance at the clock, "5 in the morning." She gave an exasperated sigh. "No." She squeezed her eyes shut tight and burrowed her face against Callie's shoulder.

Callie rolled her eyes at her wife's antics. Most people assumed that Arizona's perky personality was turned on all the time, but then again most people had never encountered Arizona before she had at least one cup of coffee in her system. Partially rolling on top of Arizona, Callie grabbed her wife's pager from the blonde's bedside table.

"It's a 911 from Owen to the pit," Callie read.

"Ugh," groaned Arizona, pulling away from Callie and taking the pager from her to read the offending message herself. "Stupid tiny humans," she grumbled as she dragged herself from the bed.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least it's early," Callie offered.

"How is that a bright side?" Arizona asked as she fumbled in the closet for some clothes. "5 am is never a bright side. Seriously. Who are you and what have you done with Callie?"

Callie shrugged. "Hopefully whatever it is won't take too long and you'll still be able to spend the day with us."

**XXXXXXXX**

20 minutes later, Arizona cruised into the ER, coffee in hand, ready to tackle whatever had caused Owen to page her in on her day off as quickly and efficiently as possible. If she played her cards right, she could be home before lunch.

Spotting the red head across the ER she made her way towards him. "What've we got?" she asked.

"Fire at a summer camp," Owen said, gesturing for her to follow him towards the trauma bay doors and grabbing a trauma gown. "We've got busses coming in full of kids, all of whom will be unaccompanied minors."

Arizona let out a puff of air. So much for getting home before lunch. At this rate, Arizona wouldn't be surprised if Callie got paged in as well.

"Okay, people, here we go," Owen called as the first ambulance pulled into the bay.

The door to the ambulance opened and a paramedic Arizona recognized as Andy hopped out of the back of the rig. "Jordan Eckford, age 12, multiple contusions and a possible wrist fracture from falling down the stairs. He's also got some smoke inhalation," Andy called as he wheeled a gurney out of the back of the ambulance. The child in question had an oxygen mask strapped over his face and was cradling his left arm against his chest but otherwise looked perfectly healthy.

"Uh, yeah, Kepner, take this one," Owen called as he assessed the boy's clearly non-critical status. As Kepner and a couple interns wheeled the boy away Owen turned to Andy. "Massive casualties and this is what you bring us first? I thought you guys knew how to prioritize."

"That's the worst of it," Andy replied with an eye roll.

"What?" Arizona asked. "That was the most critically injured child?" she asked, pointing in the direction in which Kepner had just disappeared.

"Yeah," Andy replied. "It wasn't a big fire. The kids are just a little shaken up. They all had some smoke inhalation but they're fine. The only reason that kid got hurt was because he panicked and tripped down the stairs."

"Seriously?" Arizona asked. While she was annoyed that Owen had woken her up at 5, she was mostly just thrilled that she wasn't going to have to spend the day at the hospital when she was supposed to be with her wife and daughter.

"The camp is just covering its ass, or, I say camp, but the place is more like a resort. I don't even want to guess how much it costs to send your kid there for the summer. But I do know that the kinds of parents who do are the kind who will slap that place with a lawsuit so fast. The place is full of CEO's kids and movie star's kids, it's gonna get media attention. Between the parents and the news outlets… good luck guys," Andy called as he walked off.

Happier than ever to avoid the circus the hospital was about to become, Arizona pulled off her trauma gown. "Next time you page me at 5 am on my day off, try to make sure there's an actual case Hunt," Arizona said with a hint of teasing in her voice. "I'm going home."

"No, I need you to stay," Owen called, running after her, pulling off his own gown.

"It's smoke inhalation Owen, these cases aren't surgical," Arizona replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"I know, but you heard Andy, this place is gonna be full of crazy parents and the phones will be ringing off the hook. I need someone who knows how to handle parents."

"There is a whole department of Paediatrics here, all of those doctors are trained to deal with parents. This is Dr. Cooper's mess; she's the head of Paediatric _medicine_. You don't need Paediatric _surgery_," Arizona retorted.

"If it gets out that we had a ton of high profile kids admitted to the hospital and my head of PEDS surgery wasn't here… The hospital can't take that. I'm sorry, I need you to stay," Owen stated simply. As another ambulance pulled up, Owen left to greet it, and Arizona was left standing in disbelief.

**XXXXXXXX**

Now, four hours later, Arizona was grumbling to herself as she filled out charts. Not only was she stuck here on her day off, but she wasn't even in surgery. She could probably have gotten over being paged in today if she'd had a killer surgery and saved a life, but she was basically killing time, her only assignment to be in the building so that some lawyer or reporter couldn't make a big deal out of nothing. She had spoken to several irate parents in person, and several more over the telephone. Every child had been looked at, and now Arizona was just waiting for an opportunity to get away. It was only 9:30; she could still spend the day with her girls.

Signing her name at the bottom of the chart, Arizona looked up when she heard a voice say, "Excuse me." Standing before her was a young woman in her early twenties. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and looked thoroughly nervous.

"Can I help you?" Arizona asked, setting aside the chart.

"Um, are you Dr. Arizona Robbins?" the girl asked, she seemed to be staring at a spot somewhere behind Arizona's head. She didn't seem to be able to make eye contact.

"Yes," Arizona replied.

The girl nodded. "Okay," she said, letting out a shakey breath.

As Arizona waited for her to continue her pager went off. She looked down and saw that it was Owen again. "Okay, well, nice to meet you," Arizona said, slightly bewildered by the young woman's behavior. "I have to go." She turned to leave in the direction of Owen's office.

"No, wait!" the girl called suddenly and Arizona turned back around. "I know you're a doctor," the girl started. "And I know you have to be busy, but if I don't say this now, I am going to lose my nerve, and you will never see me again, and you'll always wonder 'who was that weird girl who needed to talk to me that I never saw again?' and it'll bother you. You'll always wonder and that's no good for anyone. I mean, nobody likes that. So, I just have to say this. Now."

She managed to expel this little rant in one breath and Arizona was mildly impressed. Even her nervous rambling wasn't that good. She widened her eyes and gave a little half nod to encourage the young woman to continue.

"Is your father Daniel Robbins? Colonel Daniel Robbins?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.

"Yes," Arizona answered slowly, unsure of where this could possibly be going.

The girl let out a sigh. "Mine too," she said.

**I have some really great plans for this story, so I hope you enjoyed installment number one. I hope you made it to the end :) Any feedback is always appreciated. Cheers guys.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So while I was editing through this chapter, I noticed that at one point I had Callie saying "eh". I put that in without thinking, and as Callie is not Canadian, it would not make any sense for her to say it. So I changed it to "huh". As a very proud Canuck, I felt a little icky putting that word in my story – but I did it for the good of the fic! To keep the character in character. I'm very proud of myself for doing this, and I just thought I'd share my personal triumph.**

"_Is your father Daniel Robbins? Colonel Daniel Robbins?" she asked, biting her bottom lip._

"_Yes," Arizona answered slowly, unsure of where this could possibly be going._

_The girl let out a sigh. "Mine too," she said._

Arizona fixed the girl with a confused stare. "Your father is a Marine Colonel?" she asked.

"Uh, no," the girl said, shaking her head. "Or, I mean, yes." She seemed flustered. "I mean, he's your Colonel. He…" she bit her lip and took a steadying breath. "Your father is my father too," she said slowly.

Arizona let out a low chuckle. "No, he's not," she said with a little shake of her head. "I'm sorry, you must be confused."

The young woman scrunched her face into a grimace. "I'm not," she said. "I wish was, for your sake. I never wanted to come in and burst the pretty pink bubble that was your happy childhood and happy family, but… I'm not confused. I'm sure." She spoke the last two words with confidence, and for the first time, she looked Arizona in the eye.

Arizona felt her heart stop for a second. The eyes that met her, they were like looking in a mirror. They were exactly the same blue as her own eyes. And exactly the same blue as her father's…

"Look, I wasn't expecting you to just take my word for it," the girl continued. "If you just give me ten minutes, I'm sure I can get you to believe me, and if I can't, I promise I will leave you alone and you never have to see me again."

Arizona's pager sounded for a second time. She had forgotten about Owen's page. "I have to go," Arizona replied. Her voice sounded distant even to her own ears. She started to leave.

"No! Please don't walk away!" the young woman called and for the first time, Arizona heard desperation in her voice. Arizona paused. "I really need to talk to you. I know this is a lot to process, but I _really_ need to talk you. Here…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bus ticket. She grabbed the pen that Arizona had discarded on the nurse's station after finishing her charting, and quickly scribbled something on the ticket. "Can you just call me?" she asked, a hint of pleading in her tone. "I know you're a doctor and you're busy and you have to go now. And I know you need to process. But please, call me, because…"

"You need to talk to me about something," Arizona finished.

"Yeah," the young woman nodded, running her fingers through her hair. She handed the ticket to Arizona.

_**614 555 6580**_

_**Sawyer**_

"Sawyer?" Arizona asked, reading the ticket.

"Oh, uh, right," the girl stuttered. "I never introduced myself. I'm Sawyer. Logan. My name is Sawyer Logan."

Arizona nodded, and without another word, walked off down the hall.

When Arizona wandered into Owen's office he could tell her mind was elsewhere.

"Hey, Arizona," he greeted. "I just wanted to let you know that you can head home. Every one of the kids has been cleared medically so… I wanted to thank you for staying. I know it's your day off and it was a lot of political and bureaucratic bull that you had to deal with. I appreciate it, and I owe you one." Arizona nodded. This was not the reaction Owen was expecting. He had expected complaints, if not about him then at least about the bureaucracy of the whole situation. "Are you okay?" Owen added when the silence dragged on.

Arizona shook herself. "I'm fine. I'm just tired. Someone paged me here at 5, and then didn't even give me something to do to keep my brain awake," Arizona teased. The words were right, but Owen couldn't help but feel that they sounded a little hollow. "I'm going home then," Arizona said, rising and made her way out of the office.

**XXXXXXXX**

As Arizona made the trek back across the street to her apartment, she felt like her mind was going a mile a minute. It simply could not be possible. Her father was not the type of man who would have an affair and father an illegitimate child. And even if he was, he was certainly not the kind of man who would ever abandon said child. There was just no way… But Arizona couldn't shake the image of those blue eyes. Her blue eyes. Her dad's blue eyes.

When she entered the building, Arizona opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator. She needed a little more time to think before she came face to face with Callie. She wanted today to be about nothing but her beautiful family. She wanted to have all thoughts of this girl out of her head.

When she reached the door of her apartment she took a deep breath. She'd tell Callie about the encounter tonight. After they had their day with Sofia. She didn't want some random stranger making ridiculous claims to be the focus of the day. She pushed open the door and plastered a smile on her face.

"Hey! You're home!" Callie called excitedly as Arizona stepped through the door. "And it's not even 10 yet. You see, bright side! We still get our day together!" she beamed. "What was the page for?" she asked, turning her attention back to Sofia, with whom she was sitting on the floor, playing with her large foam blocks.

"Fire at a summer camp," Arizona said, coming to join Callie and Sofia on the floor.

"And you're already home?" Callie asked, surprised.

"Well, seeing as every kid had nothing but smoke inhalation, I'd question your use of the word _already_," Arizona laughed with a roll of her eyes.

"Smoke inhalation?" Callie asked. "Why were you paged for smoke inhalation?"

"A-list parents, high profile kids, gotta have the head of paediatric surgery on site, just in case some idiot wants to make a fuss."

"So you've just been - "

"Twiddling my thumbs for four hours? Yeah," Arizona replied, the discontent evident in her voice.

"Aw, babe, that sucks," Callie said sympathetically. She leaned over and kissed the blonde's temple. Arizona leaned into the kiss and shut her eyes for a minute. She needed to push Sawyer _Whatever-her name-was _out of her mind. Arizona leaned into Callie and rested her head against her shoulder. Callie looked down at her wife and could tell something was bothering her. "You okay?" she asked gently, placing another kiss on her wife's head.

"I'm okay," Arizona replied. "Let's just spend today enjoying our beautiful baby girl, and we can talk about it later."

'Okay," Callie nodded.

Callie and Arizona spent the majority of the day outside. The weather was uncharacteristically sunny for Seattle and they both wanted to take full advantage of that fact. They took Sofia to the park, they had lunch outside at a little café, and they strolled along the boardwalk, pushing a sleeping Sofia in her stroller.

When they got back to the apartment that evening, Callie went ahead and got started on dinner while Arizona took a now wide-awake Sofia into the living room to play. Callie was worried about Arizona. She knew that her wife had done her best to enjoy herself today, but more than once Callie had been speaking only to realize that Arizona wasn't paying her the slightest attention. More than once she caught her wife staring off into space, caught up in her thoughts. Callie didn't know what had happened at the hospital this morning, but she wanted more than anything for Arizona to decide that _now_ was later and to tell her what was going on. Callie watched as Arizona sat with Sofia, flipping through a picture book. She seemed to visibly relax as she absently ran her fingers through their daughter's hair and Callie smiled – there wasn't much that cuddling with Sofia couldn't cure.

After dinner, Callie put Sofia through her bedtime routine while Arizona cleaned up. Arizona joined Callie in the nursery, and the two stood, watching Sofia sleep for a few minutes before Callie gently put her arm around Arizona's waist and guided her wordlessly from the room. Settling on the couch, Callie pulled Arizona's weight against her and Arizona leaned back, getting comfortable.

"So," Callie said, gently running her hands up and down Arizona's arms. "You wanna talk about it now?"

Arizona sighed. She shifted, and leaned further back against Callie, raising her hips so that she could wiggle her hand into the pocket of her jeans and fished out the bus ticket she had been given this morning. Arizona pressed the ticket into Callie's hand without speaking.

"Sawyer, huh?" Callie asked, reading the slip of paper. "This looks like a woman's handwriting."

"It is," Arizona replied.

"So, some chick gave you her number? That's what this is about? Babe, it's not your fault you're hot. People are bound to notice. If you want, I can go have a chat with _Sawyer_ and tell her to stay away from my very hot wife." There was laughter in Callie's voice and as she spoke, she ran her hands playfully up and down Arizona's sides. Arizona remained completely still in her arms and Callie knew that she was missing something.

"Arizona?" Callie questioned when the blonde didn't respond. "People have hit on you before and it's never bothered you. Why is - "

"She says she's my sister," Arizona blurted, cutting Callie off.

"Wait, what?" Callie asked, her voice laced with confusion and disbelief. She puled back to look Arizona in the eye.

"She wasn't hitting on me, she says she's my sister. She says that my dad is her dad. She says - " Arizona's voice broke and she dropped her head in her hand.

"Hey, wow, okay," Callie said, gripping Arizona's arms and spinning the blonde around so that they were face to face. She wrapped Arizona in a hug. "Can you tell me what happened?" she asked softly, rubbing her hand up and down Arizona's back in a soothing pattern.

Arizona rested her head against Callie's chest. "She just walked up to me in the hospital and asked me if Daniel Robbins was my father. I said yes. She said he was her father too. I told her that that wasn't possible, that she had to be confused. She said she was sure, that she wasn't confused and that she could prove it to me."

"Did she?" Callie asked. "Prove it to you?"

Arizona shook her head. "Owen paged me. I told her I had to go. She gave me her number and asked me to call her. Said she really needed to talk to me about something. Then I left." Arizona let out a sigh, and settled more firmly against Callie's breast. Callie's hands continued their pattern on Arizona's back. She said nothing. She could tell Arizona had more to say.

"It's not true," Arizona expelled after a few minutes of silence. "It can't be true. My dad… he would never. He didn't…" Arizona's words died away, and she looked to Callie. Callie could see a pleading in her wife's eyes, needing Callie to agree with her. To tell her it couldn't be true. "You know my dad," she continued quietly. "You don't think…"

"No," Callie soothed. "The Colonel is like the last guy I would ever suspect of having an affair and a secret love child."

Arizona nodded, grateful to hear Callie voice what she had been thinking all day. "He's all about honour and responsibility. He just, he wouldn't break his marriage vows. And he would never abandon his child," Arizona finished in a whisper.

Callie nodded. Arizona seemed to be saying this more to convince herself than to convince Callie.

"So, it's not true," Callie offered.

"Yeah," Arizona agreed. As she did, the image of Sawyer's blue eyes popped into her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the notion. "Why would she say that?" Arizona asked. "What would make her think…"

"I don't know," Callie shook her head. "Do you think it's a scam? Do you think she wanted money?"

Arizona shook her head. "I don't think so. She seemed really sincere. I think she honestly believes that he's her dad."

"Then I guess she's just confused," Callie offered. "How old was she?" Callie asked as an afterthought.

Arizona shrugged. "I dunno… Not 25. 23 maybe… Hey, wait," Arizona paused. Callie could tell that she was counting in her head. "She's early 20s. That would mean she was born somewhere from 1985 to 1989. Count back for conception, she'd have to have been conceived sometime between '84 and '88, give or take."

"Okay," Callie agreed tentatively.

Arizona broke out in a smile. The first real one Callie had seen all day. "From 1983 to 1987 we lived in Frankfurt, Germany." Arizona let out a little laugh. "It was the longest we ever lived anywhere my whole childhood. Seriously, what are the odds that her mother lived in Germany? And even if she's younger than I think, after Frankfurt, we lived in Pearl City, Hawaii. Neither one of those seem very likely."

Callie smiled; glad to see Arizona set her mind at ease.

"She's just confused," Arizona repeated, and for the first time, she spoke the words with confidence. Arizona paused and picked up the bus ticket from the coffee table where Callie had discarded it. "I should call her."

"You want to meet with her?" Callie asked, surprised.

Arizona shrugged. "She wants to find her dad. That's understandable. I can explain it to her, tell her not to waste her time on my dad so that she can go out and find the right guy."

"You're so sweet," Callie smiled, placing a soft kiss on Arizona's lips. "Do you want me to come with you? When you meet up with her?"

Arizona nodded. "Yes," she agreed readily, resting her forehead against Callie's. She wanted to believe her own reasoning. She wanted to believe her judgement of her father's character. She wanted this girl to simply be confused and to leave her and her family alone. But she still couldn't shake the image of Sawyer's eyes. Deep down, she was terrified that if she gave Sawyer those 10 minutes to convince her, she was going to need Callie there to pick up the pieces of her shattered world.


	3. Chapter 3

**The number 1 thing I have realized since I started writing Callie and Arizona stories – how much I love pronouns! Oh my goodness, being able to use "he" or "she" I never realized how awesome that is. But when you're writing about two women, all of the "shes" can get confusing. When I go back and edit my work, 90% of what I have to fix is the ambiguity caused by pronouns, and I have to switch it out for "the blonde" or "the taller woman" or whatever. Because it doesn't flow if you keep using their names over and over. Never again will I take a pronoun for granted! Never!**

The next morning, Callie awoke to find Arizona's side of the bed empty. Callie smoothed her hand over the sheets and found them cool to the touch; meaning Arizona had been absent from the bed for some time. She quietly wandered into the kitchen to find Arizona cradling a cup of coffee and staring at the coffee maker, watching the brew drip down into the coffee pot. Coming up behind her wife, Callie wrapped her arms around Arizona's waist and rested her chin on the blonde's shoulder, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. Arizona leaned back into the embrace and smiled.

"You didn't sleep," Callie said quietly. "I felt you tossing and turning all night."

"Sorry," Arizona sighed.

Callie's only response was to tighten her hold around Arizona's waist. She knew that despite Arizona's claims to the contrary, she hadn't quite convinced herself beyond a shadow of a doubt that this young woman's claims were not true. Callie just wanted to meet this stranger and set the record straight so that Arizona could stop feeling like her world didn't make sense anymore. The blonde had always regarded her father as something of a hero. A man who loved his country and his family. A man who preached honour and responsibility. The man who taught her to always do the right thing, no matter how difficult. Arizona had prized that image of her father for 35 years, and Callie didn't think she'd be able to handle having it shattered.

"What time is it?" Callie asked, releasing her hold on Arizona and grabbing a mug from the cupboard to pour herself some coffee.

"9:30," Arizona replied.

"And Sofia's not up yet?" Callie asked, quirking an eyebrow.

As if on cue, a cry came over the baby monitor that Arizona had taken from the bedroom. The blonde smirked. "I got her."

Half an hour later Sofia was strapped into her highchair and Callie was making airplane noises as she spooned Sofia's breakfast into her waiting mouth. Arizona watched for a while as Callie "flew" the "airplane" around Sofia's head, giggling as her daughter's open mouth swayed back and forth in her effort to track the spoon.

After a time, Arizona wandered into the living room and retrieved the bus ticket with Sawyer's phone number on it from the coffee table. She pulled out her phone as she returned to the kitchen. Callie caught sight of the crumpled paper in Arizona's hand and watched her fidget with the phone for a moment before saying, "Are you gonna call her today?"

"Yeah," Arizona sighed. "I just want to be done with this whole thing."

"Me too," Callie smiled.

"You're in at 4 today?" Arizona asked.

"Yep," Callie agreed.

"I'm on at 5," Arizona thought aloud, "and I was supposed to drop Sofia off at Mark's before I went in, but he's done at noon today, so maybe we could drop her off early and just deal with this this afternoon?" Arizona posed the question to Callie.

"Sounds good," Callie nodded.

After placing a call to Mark, Arizona arranged to drop Sofia off at 1 rather than 5. Ending the brief chat, she took a steadying breath.

"Okay," she said to herself. She dialled the number and it rang four times before Arizona heard a click.

"Hello?"

"Hi Sawyer, it's, um, it's Arizona Robbins."

"Hi," Sawyer replied, her voice sounded relieved. "Thank you for calling."

"You're welcome," Arizona replied. "Look, if you still want to talk - "

"I do," Sawyer said quickly.

"Okay, could we meet today then? My wife and I are free this afternoon. We can meet you somewhere."

"Today is good," Sawyer replied. "Wherever works for you, I can meet you there."

Arizona had a nice neutral location already picked out. "Do you know Beth's Café?" she asked. "It's on Aurora, near the hospital. We can meet you there."

"I can find it," Sawyer said. "Sounds perfect. What time do you want to meet?"

"Two?" Arizona suggested.

"Kay, I'll see you there," Sawyer agreed, and Arizona ended the call.

**XXXXXXXX**

Before she knew it, Arizona found herself standing outside of Beth's Café, Callie at her side. And while the blonde tried to seem nonplussed about the meeting, Callie could tell she was incredibly nervous. Grabbing her wife's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze, Callie led them into the café.

Standing just inside the door, Arizona scanned the room.

"She here?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, the blonde by the window," Arizona replied when she spotted Sawyer. Without releasing Callie's hand, Arizona guided them through the sea of tables.

Sawyer rose from her seat when they reached the table. "Hi," she greeted, somewhat awkwardly.

"Hi," Arizona replied. "This is my wife, Callie," Arizona gestured and turned to the woman beside her. She saw Callie's gaze linger on Sawyer's eyes and knew that she too had seen the similarity. Callie spent a lot more time looking into Arizona's eyes than she did, so if the blonde could see the resemblance she knew it would not go unnoticed by her wife.

"Hi, I'm Sawyer," Sawyer said, extending her hand which Callie shook. As she shook hands, Callie took in the girl before her. She was a little shorter than Arizona, but not much, and she had shoulder length blonde that she wore in loose waves. Her face was longer and less round than Arizona's but Callie couldn't deny that there was some resemblance. A resemblance heightened all the more so by the eyes that were identical to her wife's. Callie gave her a little smile, which Sawyer nervously returned. When she did, Callie felt a jolt in the pit of her stomach. Sawyer's little smile caused a dimple to pop on her cheek. Callie glanced at her wife and the blonde's expression told her she too, had seen the dimples. Callie felt a wave of dread. She was suddenly feeling that there was a very good chance that this meeting was not going to turn out the way they were hoping.

Callie released Sawyer's hand, and she and Arizona sat across from the young woman. Silence hung for a moment before Sawyer bit her lip and said, "So, um - "

She was cut off when a waiter appeared at the table, noticing Callie and Arizona's arrival. "Hello ladies," he greeted warmly. "Would you like to see a menu?" He was speaking directly to Callie and Arizona as Sawyer already had a cup of coffee sitting on the table in front of her, although it didn't look to Callie as if she had touched it.

"No thanks, we'll just take two more coffees please," Callie replied. The waiter hurried off to retrieve the beverages and left the trio alone again. No one spoke while he was gone, not wanting the conversation to be interrupted by his return. After a few minutes, the waiter placed two cups of coffee on the table in front and Callie and Arizona and left without a word, clearly sensing the tension of the group.

As soon as their privacy was restored, Arizona spoke. "Look, Sawyer. The only reason we came today was to explain to you why my father _can't_ be your father. I get that you want to find your dad, but you're looking in the wrong place." Arizona tilted her head to the side. "How old are you?" she asked gently.

"I'm 24," Sawyer replied. Callie thought she looked younger. She would bet that Sawyer still got asked for ID every time she bought a drink.

"So you were born in - "

"1987," Sawyer supplied. "November 12th, 1987."

"Right," Arizona agreed. "The thing is, from 1983 to 1987 my family lived in - "

"Frankfurt," Sawyer offered quietly. Arizona's head snapped up at her words. "I know. My mother was a flight attendant on Lufthansa Airlines. Her route was between Frankfurt and Washington, D.C., but she lived in Frankfurt." Sawyer paused and reached to the chair beside her where a bag sat. She pulled out a worn leather journal. Arizona followed it with her eyes as she set it on the table, and then stared at it like a grenade that had just had the pin pulled. Sawyer flipped it open and Callie realized that it was a hand written journal. From the back, Sawyer pulled out a photograph, and handed it across the table to Arizona.

Arizona stared at the picture in front of her. It featured a man and a woman standing side by side, smiling for the camera. They were outside, bundled for winter and both wearing cross country skis. The man on the left was, without question, Arizona's father, 25 years ago, in his early 40s. Beside him stood a woman roughly 10 years his junior. Light brown hair poked out from under the winter hat she wore. She had pale blue eyes and a big smile. She was very pretty.

"That's my mom," Sawyer offered gently.

Arizona set the photo down on the table. "So they knew each other," she shrugged. "That doesn't mean…"

Sawyer nodded. She pulled a few more photos from the book and passed them across the table. Arizona flipped through them with shaking hands. Each picture showed her father and Sawyer's mother, and each picture made them look more like a couple than the last. Sitting on some porch steps with her head resting on his shoulder. Holding hands. Dancing together. One of him kissing her cheek. Arizona handed them to Callie, not able to look at any more.

"I have these too," Sawyer said softly, pulling a stack of loose papers out of the journal. "They're, um, they're letters. They're signed D.R., but I thought you might recognize the handwriting."

Arizona gestured for Sawyer to pass her the letters, not trusting her voice right now. Opening the first one, she was greeted by the familiar backwards slant of her father's tight, tidy scroll.

_January, 8__th__ 1984_

_My Dear Alicia,_

_I left you only 4 hours ago and already I find myself putting pen to paper. As I stare out the window of my office, my mind is not consumed as I thought it would be. I thought I would feel guilt. I thought I would be unable to rid my mind of thoughts of my wife. But it has been 4 hours, and all I have thought about is you. You and the weekend we spent together. How right it felt to be with you. How amazing you are. I know when we met I said that you would never see me again, but I now know that is not true. It can't be true. _

Arizona closed the letter, unable to read any more. She felt tears welling in her eyes and she blinked them back.

"According to her journal," Sawyer spoke, laying her hand on the worn leather book, "they met in Brückenau, at a ski resort. Your dad was there with some marine buddies, and my mom was there with some of her friends. He didn't speak German very well, and she helped him order his dinner." Sawyer paused, but when Arizona said nothing she continued. "They were in a relationship for about two and a half years."

Arizona sucked in a harsh breath and Callie gently placed a comforting hand on her knee.

"It ended when my mom found out that she was pregnant. It's uh, that last letter," Sawyer said, gesturing to the pile. Arizona shuffled the papers in her hand, and pulled out the one from the bottom of the pile. As she opened it, she leaned slightly against Callie, angling the page so that her wife could read it as well. Callie's hand found Arizona's back and began slowly rubbing it, up and down.

_April 15__th__ 1987_

_Alicia,_

_I know this isn't what you want to hear. But you asked me to start a family with you. To leave my wife and to have this baby with you. But you know I can't. You knew that what we had could never be anything more than what it was. I can't start a family because I have a family. I have a wife and children who I love and cherish. I always have. I just needed to remember that._

_I'm sorry. But what we had, it was a mistake. I know that now. And I will spend the rest of my life making it up to my wife. This baby will never be mine. Timothy and Arizona are, and always will be my only children._

_Enclosed you will find 1000 Mark. This is not my baby and it never will be. And it should not be yours either, you can't do this alone. Please, do the right thing and take care of it._

_I have applied for a transfer to Pearl Harbour. Barbara has always wanted to go to Hawaii, and it is time I started putting my family first. I'm sorry it had to end like this. I'm sorry that it took you getting pregnant for me to realize what I've been doing to my family. I'm sorry._

_Goodbye, Alicia._

_DR_

Arizona placed the letter on the table when she'd finished reading.

"Her journal says that you moved to Hawaii - "

"At the end of May," Arizona spoke softly.

Sawyer nodded. "She, uh, my mother, she never saw him again, after she got this letter. And she never contacted him either, so, my whole childhood, I don't think he knew I existed." Callie could tell that Sawyer was trying to soften the blow for Arizona and she appreciated the effort.

"Your whole _childhood_?" Arizona asked pointedly.

"Uh…" Sawyer paused and Callie could tell she hadn't meant to go down this road. "Yes, my whole childhood. When I was starting my undergrad…" Sawyer ran her hand through her hair. "She called him. We had no money and my mom wanted me to go to college so bad."

"So he knows," Arizona stated. "He knows about you."

"Yes," Sawyer nodded.

"Did he help you?" Arizona asked. "With college?"

Sawyer sighed. "No… But I ended up going on an athletic scholarship so it really didn't matter."

Arizona stared at Sawyer. "I…" she started. She couldn't focus. "It, um…" She couldn't think over the sound of the blood rushing to her head. "You…" she tried again, but she felt like she was going to be sick.

Sawyer looked at Callie and said, "I just… Um, would you excuse me? I'm just gonna run to the washroom."

Callie shot her a grateful look, knowing the young woman was making up an excuse to give the couple some privacy. Sawyer quietly rose from the table and left the couple alone to talk.

**Hope you made it to the end! Reviews are, in all honesty, adored, but they are of course, not required. Thanks for reading! **


	4. Chapter 4

As Sawyer disappeared into the washroom, Callie turned to look at her wife. The blonde was staring at the table, her posture was rigid and her arms hung limply at her sides.

"Arizona?" Callie tried gently.

Arizona didn't move or give any indication that she had heard Callie speak. Reaching around her, Callie grabbed both sides of Arizona's chair and turned it so that Arizona was facing her. Arizona didn't respond, she simply continued to stare at her lap. Callie placed her hands on Arizona's thighs and leaned in, placing a soft kiss on the blonde's cheek.

"Arizona?" Callie tried again.

This time, Arizona looked up at Callie. Their eyes met briefly before Arizona dropped her gaze back to her lap, but the glance had been long enough for Callie to see the tears brimming. To see the complete devastation Arizona was feeling.

Arizona looked up again. "He…" she started, but her voice broke and the tears began to fall.

"C'mere," Callie whispered, pulling Arizona into a hug.

"He," Arizona started again, but she didn't seem to be able to get past that first word. She bit back a sob.

"I know," Callie soothed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry babe."

After a few minutes Arizona pulled back form Callie's embrace. She didn't want to. She wanted to stay there forever, for Callie to make her feel better and fix everything. But she was dually aware of the fact that they were sitting in a relatively busy café and the fact that Sawyer could only pretend to be using the washroom for so long.

"She's my…" Arizona paused. She didn't seem to be able to say the word sister. "My dad is her dad."

"Looks like it," Callie agreed softly.

"I was 7," Arizona said. "When he met…" she hesitated, "her mother, I was 7 years old." She shook her head. "I don't understand. This… this doesn't make any sense. My father had an affair. He, he cheated on my mom. He got a woman pregnant and told her to get an abortion. He found out that he had another kid and he abandoned her. That is not my dad. This doesn't make any sense." Arizona dropped her head in her hands.

"I know," Callie said. "I don't get it either. It doesn't sound like your dad. But we'll figure this out. I promise."

Arizona lifted her head from her hands and met Callie's gaze. She nodded slowly. They heard a bang come from the back of the café and they turned to see Sawyer loudly shutting the door to the washroom, giving the couple a heads up that she was returning to the table. Appreciating the chance to compose herself, Arizona turned her chair back to the table, and wiped her face with her hand, attempting to mask the fact that she'd been crying.

"Sorry about that," Sawyer said, sitting back down. Callie smiled at her. Apparently being sweet and considerate was a Robbins family trait.

"So," Arizona said, steadying herself. "You said you needed to talk to me about something? Something that wasn't just the fact that…" Arizona's voice faltered for a second. She still couldn't seem to get the word sister out of her mouth. "That my father is your father."

"Yeah," Sawyer said slowly. Her body language seemed to indicate that she was more uncomfortable talking about this than the fact that Daniel Robbins was her father. "I, uh, I go to the University of Washington… Medical school. I start my fourth year in September." She paused, collecting her thoughts.

"My mom, she took out a second mortgage on the house so that I could go. And I have two jobs - "

"So you want money," Arizona interrupted flatly.

"No," Sawyer said quickly. "I don't want your money." She paused, and when she resumed speaking her voice was much quieter. "My mom died ten months ago. Hit by a drunk driver. Her life insurance, it barely covered the mortgage and she had other debt so… I had to take a year off from school to work and get that under control. But now, I have to finish. I have to finish medical school. All my mom ever talked about was me becoming a doctor, so I _have_ to become a doctor. I still have my two jobs but… I can't handle the tuition." She ran her hand through her hair. "I have to fix this. I have to become a doctor. So what I need is… his name."

"What?" Arizona asked, her voice quiet, the bite from her earlier words gone completely as she felt a wave of sympathy for the young woman in front of her.

"I found this," Sawyer said, pulling a folder out of her bag. "It's a bursary program for students whose parents are in the military," Sawyer said, opening the folder. "I fit every criteria. It's guaranteed, it would cover my full tuition, but I need to list him as my father, and he would have to verify it."

"Okay," Arizona said slowly.

"He won't," Sawyer said softly. "He won't admit that, that I'm his kid. I called him three weeks ago, back in July. That was the first time I ever spoke to him. I thought… I thought since I'd never asked him for anything, he would give me this. Let me use his name. But he said if he did, it would become a part of his military record and his wife… your mom would find out about me. And you would find out about me. So he won't."

"He won't," Arizona repeated, disbelief in her voice.

Sawyer shook her head. "I thought about calling your mom. Telling her who I was, forcing him to acknowledge me… but I couldn't do it. It felt cheap and dirty and wrong and I just couldn't do it. I wasn't going to contact you either. But then I found out that you live in Seattle, and, I don't know. I just felt like… we live in the same city. I couldn't pass that up. I had to try."

"Try what?" Callie asked, not quite following.

"I want to ask you, to ask your father, to let me use his name," Sawyer sighed.

"You want me to talk to my dad?" Arizona clarified.

Sawyer nodded. "I thought, maybe if he knew that you knew about me, it wouldn't seem like such a big deal. Maybe you could get him to change his mind. I don't know. It's really a long shot, but I had to try."

Arizona looked blankly at Sawyer for a second before shifting her gaze to the folder she had just produced. "Can I?" Arizona asked, gesturing to the folder.

"Yeah, of course," Sawyer replied quickly, pushing the folder across the table.

Arizona opened it and stared at the first page without really seeing. She wasn't reading. She didn't care about the specifics of the bursary program. She just wanted an excuse to sit quietly and gather her thoughts.

Callie could tell that Arizona wanted time to think, so she took it upon herself to steer the conversation away from the blonde for a minute. "So, Sawyer," Callie said conversationally. "Did you grow up in Germany then? You don't have an accent."

"Ah, no," Sawyer said, snapping her eyes away from Arizona. "No, my mom wanted me to be born in the states so she came home. I'm from Nevada. I grew up in Las Vegas."

"Wow, Vegas. That must have been a pretty cool place to grow up."

"It was interesting, that's for sure. Seattle was a big adjustment. It rains in Vegas like twice a year, so I had to get used to… the wet."

Callie laughed. "Yeah, I'm from Miami so…"

"Oh, man it gets cold up here doesn't it," Sawyer laughed.

"It really does," Callie agreed. "So, did you stay down south for your undergrad then?"

"Uh, no. I went to Columbia."

"Really? New York? I did my undergrad at NYU."

"I love New York," Sawyer smiled.

"Oh, me too," Callie agreed. "I went to Princeton for Med school so my friends and I basically went back to the city every weekend."

"Oh, I believe that. I played soccer at Columbia, and when we had games at Princeton I was always glad to get back to New York."

Callie paused. Arizona played soccer. Arizona loved soccer. As a kid, moving every 18 months or so, she'd join a new soccer team in every new city. She said belonging to the team meant she had instant new friends. It had been a big part of how she'd coped with the constant moving around.

Arizona cleared her throat. Callie and Sawyer both quickly turned their attention back to her.

"Okay," Arizona said. "I'll talk to him."

Sawyer let out a heavy breath and closed her eyes for a second. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"We should go," Arizona said, turning to Callie.

"Okay," Callie agreed. She and Arizona rose from the table. Callie pulled out some cash and dropped it on the table to pay for their untouched coffees. "It was nice to meet you," Callie said.

"You too," Sawyer replied, smiling and causing her dimples to surface again.

Arizona left without a word and Callie followed her to the car. The drive home was only a few minutes, but the silence hung heavily in the air. Glancing at the clock, Callie saw that the meeting hadn't even taken an hour, so they had a little time before she had to leave for work.

When they entered the apartment, Arizona wordlessly made her way to the bedroom and shut the door behind her. Callie decided to leave her be for now. She knew that Arizona needed time to process everything she had just learned. Callie went about tidying the already relatively clean apartment. She emptied clean dishes from the dishwasher. She sorted through the pile of mail that had been accumulating over the past few days. She tidied the living room. She deposited a pile of Sofia's toys in their chest in the nursery. As she made her way back down the hallway, past her bedroom, Callie paused when she heard gentle sobs coming through the door. As much as Callie wanted to give Arizona her space and let her work through this, she simply wasn't capable of listening to her wife cry without doing something.

Pushing open the door, Callie found Arizona curled up on the bed, her back was turned, and she didn't seem to hear Callie enter. Quietly crossing the room, Callie climbed onto the bed. She spooned her body in behind Arizona's and wrapped an arm protectively around the blonde's stomach while pressing a kiss to her shoulder blade.

Arizona tensed when she felt the bed dip, indicating that Callie had joined her. Arizona thought she wanted to be alone. But the minute she felt Callie's touch she realized she was wrong. She didn't want to be alone. She wanted Callie. She wanted Callie to make her feel safe and promise her that everything was going to be okay. But she couldn't voice those feelings, so she simply rolled over, and snuggled closer to her wife, feeling safe in her arms.

As Arizona lay there, letting Callie make her feel better, she was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt. What right did she have to be this upset? Sawyer was the one who had been dealt the crappy hand. Sawyer had lost her mother and had a father who wouldn't acknowledge her. Sawyer was the one who was staring in the face of possibly losing her dream of becoming a doctor. Yet she soldiered on. She looked for solutions while Arizona curled up in a ball and cried.

"I shouldn't be this upset," Arizona whispered. "I don't know why I'm this upset."

"I do," Callie said simply as she played with her wife's hair.

"He raised me to be a good man in a storm," Arizona said quietly. "I thought that he was that man too. But he's not." Arizona could hear her father saying, _'Are you still who I raised you to be?'_ ringing in her ears. The day that her father had accepted her sexuality was a memory that Arizona cherished. Now it felt like a lie. Her father clearly didn't honour those values the way he claimed to. Her father was not a good man in a storm.

"But it was a long time ago," Arizona reasoned. "I shouldn't feel - "

"There is no way you should or shouldn't feel," Callie said firmly, cutting her off. "Arizona your world changed today. You are allowed to have a reaction to that. It's not wrong for you to be upset. He's your dad."

Arizona rested her forehead against Callie's. "Thank you," she breathed. "For being there today. For being here now. I…"

Gently but firmly, Callie replied, "I will always be here."

**That's a wrap. Hope you made it to the end. If it's not too much trouble, leave me a review. They put a massive smile on my face!**


	5. Chapter 5

Arizona returned home from her shift a little after 7 the next morning. She was exhausted. She was supposed to be done at 5, but just after 3 a trauma case had come in. House fire. An eleven year old had jumped out of her second-story bedroom window when the flames had blocked the stairwell. It had been unclear, at the start, whether or not she would ever walk again, but Arizona and Derek Shepherd had worked tirelessly on her for over 4 hours, and happily they expected her to make a full recovery.

Despite the gruelling exhaustion her body now felt, a surgery like that had been exactly what Arizona needed. When she was in the OR, focused, the rest of the world melted away, and Arizona had revelled in those four hours. Hours spent not thinking about her father and her impending phone call to him.

Even if Sawyer hadn't asked her to, Arizona would still have felt the need to call her dad today. Not only because she needed to tell him she knew, but also because there was still a very small part of her hoping that he had some kind of explanation. That there was a reason that the man who had taught her to always own up to her mistakes, to shoulder her responsibilities, honour her commitments and love her family, had not done so himself.

Silently entering her bedroom, Arizona found Callie sound asleep. Callie's shift had finished at 4, so Arizona knew she had only been asleep for a few hours. Callie was a heavy sleeper, but Arizona moved around the room as quietly as possible regardless. Before climbing into bed, Arizona gazed at Callie's sleeping form for a moment. Callie was amazing. She was what was getting Arizona through this. She was patient and loving and supportive. She knew when to give Arizona her space and when to hold her. She had dropped by PEDS far more than usual during their shift that night, bringing with her coffee and easy conversation. Callie had known that Arizona would need a distraction or two, something to give her mind a reprieve from analysing and reanalysing everything she had learned that day.

Gently, Arizona slipped into the bed, lying next to Callie. She brushed a few stray locks out of her wife's face and pressed a kiss to her forehead before curling up and shutting her eyes. Without waking, Callie reached for Arizona in her sleep. Her arm snaking around the blonde, she tugged her wife closer. Arizona smiled and briefly relished how safe she felt in Callie's arms before she too drifted off to sleep.

**XXXXXXXX**

A little after one, Arizona woke from what had fortunately been a dreamless sleep.

"Hey there, beautiful," Callie smiled.

Arizona rolled onto her side to find Callie propped up against the headboard, reading. She greeted her wife with a sleepy smile.

"What time did you get in this morning?" Callie asked.

"7ish," Arizona yawned.

"Surgery?" Callie asked, knowing that Arizona should have been home at 5.

"Mmm," Arizona agreed. "Compressed spinal fracture, L2 and L3, from a fall out a window. She's gonna walk again though."

Callie smiled. "That's good."

They started their day slowly, eventually rolling out of bed to find coffee and bagels. They chatted over breakfast, but it did not go unnoticed by Callie that Arizona kept glancing at her phone. When a lull fell in their conversation, Callie finally asked, "Are you gonna call him today?"

Arizona nodded. "I told her I would."

"It'll be good to talk to him," Callie said gently. "To hear what he has to say. It might help the whole thing make a little more sense."

Arizona picked up the phone to place the call, but then replaced it on the table. "After breakfast," she said.

Twice more Arizona picked up and put down her phone. First she suggested that they watch a movie, and she declared she would place the call after that. When the movie had finished, Arizona recalled that she had some very important e-mails sitting in her inbox, and she could place the call once those were dealt with.

Now, it was well after 4, and Arizona had run out of excuses. After a few steadying breaths, she pulled up her parent's number in her phone and hit call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Dad," Arizona greeted, doing her best to keep her voice neutral.

"Arizona," her dad said pleasantly. "Hold on a second, let me get your mother to grab the other handset."

"No," Arizona said quickly. "I need to talk to you Dad. Just you."

"Is everything alright? With Callie? With Sofia?" her father asked, concerned.

"Callie and Sofia are fine, Dad," Arizona assured him.

"Then what is it sweetheart?" Daniel asked.

Arizona released a heavy sigh. "Dad, do you know a woman named Alicia Logan?"

"What's this about, Arizona?" he asked sharply, the concern suddenly gone from his voice.

"I met Sawyer," Arizona replied simply.

"Mmmm, yes. A young woman named Sawyer Logan contacted me a few weeks ago. I hope she wasn't spouting the same lies at you that she gave to me."

"She said…" Arizona started but her voice faltered.

"Yes, I know what she said Arizona. But you can't honestly believe any of that can you? I've never even met a woman named Alicia Logan. I am obviously not this girl's _father_." He whispered the last word.

Arizona felt her heart drop at her father's words. "Dad, please don't lie to me," Arizona pleaded softly.

"Arizona, you know - "

"I saw the pictures," Arizona cut him off. "And I saw the letters you wrote to her. And she has your eyes, Dad."

"Arizona, you have to understand - "

"Understand?" Arizona cut him off again, incredulous. "No, Dad. I don't _understand_. I can't _understand_. How could you - "

"It was a mistake." It was Daniel's turn to cut Arizona off. "I made a mistake." Daniel sighed. "I joined the Marines when I was 18 years old. I didn't party or enjoy my youth; I was too intent on climbing through the ranks. I met your mother, got married, had a family. I didn't make a single irresponsible decision. And suddenly, I was 40, and I felt like I hadn't lived at all. Like I'd never made a mistake. So I made a huge one. I had an affair, and I have regretted it every day since. I just made a mistake, Arizona."

"You have another daughter," Arizona replied, and she could hear the tears in her voice.

"No, Arizona, you are my only daughter."

"Sawyer is - "

"I've never been her father. I never will be her father."

"You can't just decide that!" Arizona burst. The inevitable tears that came every time she had some level of confrontation with her father began silently slipping down her face. _Stupid authority issues, _she thought as she wiped at her cheeks. "You don't get to just say, _no thanks_," she continued. "You are her father and she needs you. She hasn't asked you for anything her whole life."

"I didn't even know she existed," Daniel bit back. "All these years, I thought that Alicia had the abortion. I didn't know."

"You've known for years," Arizona retorted. "Her mother called you when she was starting college and you did nothing."

"Arizona, I made my choice years ago. I chose your mother. I chose Timothy and you."

"So what? Her mom is dead. She is all alone. And all she's asking you for is to acknowledge her so that she can finish medical school. You owe her that much."

"No I don't. I will not do that to your mother. I have done enough wrong by her. I will not drudge up the past and hurt her like that."

"Dad, this is your child," Arizona pleaded. "You can't… You can't just turn your back on her."

"She's hardly a child Arizona," Daniel replied. "If the circumstances were different, if Alicia had passed when she was still a child… But she's a grown woman. I have no obligations to her anymore."

"Dad,"

"No. Arizona, I have made my decision. I made it years ago and I am not discussing this any further."

Arizona was in a state of complete disbelief. "Fine," she muttered. "Good-bye Dad,"

"Good-bye Arizona. I'll still be expecting your call as usual on Thursday."

Arizona scoffed. "Sure." She hung up the phone and stared at the device in her hand for a moment. She thought about calling back and demanding to speak to her mother. About telling her mother everything, but at this point, she wasn't sure what good it'd do. Her father had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Sawyer. Telling her mother wasn't going to change that and wasn't going to help Sawyer. Telling her mother would only devastate her and Arizona simply couldn't do that. Sawyer was right. It felt cheap and dirty.

Arizona threw her phone down on the couch in frustration. She rose from the couch and stormed into the kitchen. She began opening cupboards and slamming them shut, not sure what she was looking for, but feeling a small measure of satisfaction from the loud banging. Callie, who had retreated to the bedroom to grant Arizona some privacy for the phone call with her father, rushed into the room.

"What are you looking for?" Callie asked hurriedly.

"I don't know," Arizona spat, the frustration heavy in her voce.

"How'd it go with your dad?" Callie asked tentatively, although Arizona's anger was giving her a pretty good idea already.

"That man that I just spoke to is not my dad. I have no idea who that was." She opened and slammed another cupboard.

Callie winced. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't feel like I'm gonna be doing a lot of talking," Arizona seethed, walking past Callie, out of the kitchen and back into the living room. "I think I might yell."

"You can yell," Callie said, bracing herself.

"You should have heard him Callie," Arizona started. "With these pathetic excuses. They weren't reasons. They weren't explanations. They were excuses. Pathetic, pathetic excuses. Going on about how _he turned 40 and hadn't lived at all_," Arizona's voice took on a mocking tone. "Like having a mid-life crisis is an excuse to go out and get a girlfriend. I mean, we lived in Germany, BUY A FREAKIN' SPORTS CAR!"

Arizona shouted the last words at a decibel Callie wasn't sure she'd heard her wife reach before. But she simply nodded, encouraging Arizona to go on because she knew the blonde needed to get this off of her chest.

"And he said he didn't know. He said he thought she'd had the abortion. Don't you think that's something you should have checked up on? Hmm? You know, after a year, just call her up, double check you don't have another kid out there? And then, all those years later when he finally finds out, he does nothing! When Mark found out about Sloan Sloan her let her move into his house. He broke up with Lexie over her. He offered to raise her baby! Oh my god, Mark Sloan is a better man than my father!"

At this realization, Arizona sank to the couch with her head in her hands. Callie hurried to her side. Arizona took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She slowly shook her head.

"He won't help her," Arizona continued, and the anger was gone from her voice. She sounded defeated. "He said she's not a child, and he's right. She's over 18. He's not under any legal obligations to her anymore. But it's so wrong."

"But it's not like she's looking for the child support he should have paid her mother," Callie offered. "She just needs him to acknowledge that he's her father so that she can qualify for the bursary program. I know it's not a nice option, but she could have a DNA test run. That would prove it."

Arizona shook her head. "Do you know how long that'll take with court orders and testing? She wouldn't get it in time to start school in September. And she's already taken a year off. If she takes another she'll have to start her degree over."

Arizona rose from the couch and started pacing back and forth. "This is wrong. This is so wrong. What am I going to tell her?" she asked, dismayed.

"You tell her you tried," Callie answered simply. "That's all she asked you to do, and I don't really think she expected this to work out anyways."

Arizona continued pacing. "But it's wrong. I feel… I feel like I should do more. But that doesn't make any sense. I've known this girl for 3 days…"

"But there's a part of you that knows you should have known her for 24 years," Callie offered. "It's not strange that you want to do more to make up for lost time. She's your sister."

Arizona sank back down on the couch. "There has to be more that I can do," she muttered, pressing her thumb and fingers across her forehead.

Callie bit her bottom lip. She hadn't expected the Colonel to change his mind, and she'd known that Arizona wouldn't be content with simply trying. She knew her wife, and her wife would need to do more. She had been toying around with an idea, but she wasn't sure how Arizona would respond to it.

"I was thinking," Callie started hesitantly. "We could lend her the money…"

Arizona's head snapped up. "What?" she asked.

"If her mother's debts have defaulted to her, she won't be eligible for a student loan. But we could lend her the money. Between your salary, my salary and that trust fund we never touch, we wouldn't even feel it."

"Callie, I can't ask you to do that," Arizona said softly.

"You're not asking, I'm offering," Callie replied. "But it's not up to me. That money is _ours_ and _we_ make decisions about it together. I think that this would be a good use for it, but you have to be on-board too, Arizona."

"I don't know…" Arizona hesitated.

"Think about it," Callie continued. "If we lend her the money, she'll be able to stay in Seattle. You could actually get to know her."

"You'd really be okay with this?" Arizona asked tentatively.

"I can't think of a better use for our money," Callie answered sincerely. "The real question is if you're okay with it."

"I wouldn't be able to tell my dad," Arizona reasoned. "He wouldn't be okay with this…" Arizona shook her head. "No. He doesn't have any right to dictate my involvement with Sawyer. It's not like he ever told me about his involvement with her. Why should I have to tell him about mine? You're right, Callie. I think we should do it."

Callie's only response was to smile and give Arizona's knee a little squeeze.

"Do you think she'll accept a loan?" Arizona asked after a moment. "She seemed pretty adamant about not wanting our money. She might say no."

Callie laughed. "Oh, Arizona, you can be pretty persuasive when you wanna be. I have faith in you."

**Hey folks! Hope you made it to the end :) This was a tricky one to write, the confrontation was something I got a lot of comments on, people saying they were looking forward to it so I hope I did it justice! If you have time, let me know what you thought. Your reviews really make my day. Cheers.**


	6. Chapter 6

Pulling out her phone, Arizona brought up the most recently added number and hit call. The phone rang twice.

"Hey, Arizona," Sawyer answered. _She saved my number after the last call_ Arizona realized from the greeting. The blonde figured that was a good sign, because while she had decided that she would like to get to know Sawyer better, it was possible that the younger woman wouldn't share that interest.

"Hi Sawyer," Arizona replied.

"What's up?" Sawyer asked.

"Uh, there are some things we need to… I mean, I'd like to talk about," Arizona replied.

"Okay…"

"I'd rather do it in person," Arizona continued. "Would that be possible?"

"Sure," Sawyer answered.

"Callie and I aren't off work together again until Saturday. Would that work for you? Say 10?"

Sawyer didn't answer right away, and Arizona heard papers rustling in the background and surmised that Sawyer was checking her schedule. "Yeah, I can make that work," Sawyer said, coming back to the phone. "Same place?"

"Uh, is that okay for you?" Arizona asked. "I never asked before, but if you live on the other side of the city we can find somewhere different."

"Oh, no, I actually… I live on Madison. It's only like a 5 minute bus ride for me, or I can walk, so yeah, Beth's is fine."

"O-Okay, great," Arizona stuttered, as the realization that her sister lived only about 15 minutes away crashed into her.

"I'll see you Saturday then," Sawyer said.

"Kay, bye," Arizona ended the call.

**XXXXXXXX**

Saturday rolled around and Arizona found herself once again standing with Callie outside of Beth's Café. They had dropped Sofia off at Mark's on their way out, and to Mark's credit, he hadn't asked what was going on. Arizona knew that he had to be curious. They usually stuck to Sofia's schedule like clockwork, but twice this week they'd asked Mark to babysit. But he said nothing. He knew that if and when the matter concerned him, they would fill him in.

Entering the café a little before 10, Arizona scanned the room and found that this time, they had beaten Sawyer to the location. She saw that the table they had occupied on their previous visit was empty, and so she and Callie sat down, facing the door.

Less than 5 minutes later Callie caught sight of Sawyer walking towards the café. She wore a loose, navy blue, long sleeved shirt that hung past her hips and black leggings. She also sported flip-flops, black aviators and had a black bag slung over her shoulder. As she entered the café, Callie was struck by just how much she actually resembled her wife.

Flipping the sunglasses on top of her head, Sawyer spotted Callie and Arizona, and made a beeline to their table.

"Hi," Sawyer smiled, sitting down opposite Arizona.

"Hey," the couple greeted in unison.

It was quiet for a second before Arizona clasped her hands together and said, "So, um - "

She was interrupted when the chorus of Men At Work's _Who Can It Be Now _began playing from Sawyer's bag.

"Ah, sorry!" Sawyer apologized, reaching in and quickly pulling out her phone. Callie caught sight of the name "Harrison" on the screen before Sawyer hit ignore and dropped the phone back in her bag.

"Nice ringtone," Callie smiled.

"Thanks," Sawyer grinned back.

"Right," Arizona started again, but before she could continue a waitress appeared, menus in hand.

"Oh, are you hungry?" Callie asked Sawyer hurriedly. "Did you want to order something?"

"Ah, no, I'm okay," Sawyer replied.

Callie and Arizona had eaten before they came, so Callie turned to the waitress and said, "Just three coffees please."

As the waitress left to fill the order, Arizona opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off for a third time when Sawyer's ringtone began playing from her bag again. Arizona bit her lip. It was like the world did not want her to have this conversation.

"I'm so sorry, one second, he's… persistent," Sawyer grimaced as she answered the call. "Hi Harrison," she said in a somewhat patronizing tone.

Callie gave Arizona's leg a reassuring squeeze under the table as they absently listened to Sawyer's one-sided conversation.

"Okay… uh huh… yeah, that makes sense… no, you're right, you're totally right."

The waitress reappeared with the coffees and placed them one by one on the table before leaving without a word.

"Yeah, okay, Harrison? Could we talk about this later? I'm kinda in the middle of something… Yes, I promise… Okay, bye." Sawyer hung up the phone and Callie noticed her turn it off as she returned it to her bag. "I'm really sorry about that," Sawyer apologized again.

"No problem," Callie smiled. "Your boyfriend?" she asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Harrison?" Sawyer laughed. "No, my twin brother."

Callie choked on her coffee. Arizona's mouth dropped open and her hand hit the table with a dull thud.

Coughing and sputtering, Callie found her voice first. "You're… You have a twin brother?"

Sawyer raised her hands in a surrender. "Uh, no," she said. "That was a joke."

"A joke?" Callie repeated, and she felt Arizona relax beside her. Sawyer nodded. "So not funny," Callie said, taking a deep breath.

Sawyer's dimples popped in her cheeks as she smiled. "A little funny," she replied with a smirk.

Arizona burst out laughing, and the tension that had been lingering at their table dissipated as Callie joined in with the laughter too.

"So, not your brother," Arizona finally managed.

Sawyer shook her head. "Harrison's my roommate," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "He's nice, but his life is a little dramatic. We've lived together for 4 months and he and his boyfriend have broken up twice. Based on that call, I'm feeling that a third split is imminent." She took another sip of her coffee. "I'm an only child, or at least I was until a few days ago."

Arizona gave a sad little smile as the conversation returned to Sawyer's paternity. "I called him…" she started, but from her tone, she didn't need to elaborate.

Sawyer gave her a weak smile. "He didn't change his mind," she said quietly with a little shake of her head. "I wasn't really expecting him to," she shrugged. "Thank you," she continued, a genuine sincerity in her voice. "For calling him, it, it means a lot. And… it was really great to meet you."

"We wanted to run something by you," Arizona said tentatively.

Sawyer raised her eyebrows and waited for Arizona to continue, but it was Callie who spoke next.

"Your mom's debts defaulted to you, right? That's why you can't get a student loan?" Sawyer nodded as she took a sip of her coffee.

"We can lend you the tuition money," Arizona stated.

It was Sawyer's turn to choke. Coughing roughly, Sawyer gasped, "What?"

"We'll lend you the money," Arizona repeated.

Sawyer laughed. "Hah, no, no. No," she spoke the last word more forcefully as if the full weight of what Callie and Arizona had offered finally hit her. "I can't." She shook her head. "I can't. I won't take your money."

"You can," Arizona retorted calmly. "If you don't you won't become a doctor."

"I will," Sawyer replied strongly. "I'll, I'll find another way."

"If you don't go back in September…" Arizona started.

"I know. I'll have to start my degree over again. Then that's what I have to do. I can't take your money. You don't owe me anything."

"I know I don't," Arizona replied, calmly. "We're not doing it because I owe you, we're doing it because we want to."

"This is incredible, and amazingly generous. But I just can't," Sawyer replied.

Arizona gave a little laugh. "Sawyer, this is for your dream. For your mom's dream. Don't let pride get in the way of that. Take the money, and you'll pay us back. When you're a doctor."

The mention of her mother seemed to turn something in Sawyer. She ran her hand through her hair and chewed her bottom lip. She looked Arizona in the eye. "I can't believe you're doing this." She turned to Callie. "Both of you. I never expected, I never wanted…"

Callie and Arizona simply smiled in reply. Sawyer looked back down to the table. "Okay," she whispered.

"You'll let us lend you the money?" Callie clarified.

Sawyer nodded, still staring at the table. She let out a shakey breath, and hid her face in her hands. Arizona realized she was crying. After a moment, she let out a little laugh, and looked back up at the couple across the table. "Thank you," she said as the tears continued to run down her face. She only said it once, but once was enough. Arizona didn't think she'd ever heard the word uttered with more sincerity, not even from the parents of the tiny humans she saved.

"There's something else," Arizona continued after giving Sawyer a minute to compose herself.

"Yeah?" Sawyer asked, eyes wide.

"It's just," Arizona started. "I would like to get to know you…" She hesitated. She didn't want Sawyer to think that getting to know her was a condition of the loan. But before she could continue, Sawyer's face broke out in a huge grin.

"I would love that so much," she replied quickly.

"Yeah?" It was Arizona's turn to smile.

"Yeah," Sawyer nodded. "I was gonna try and bring that up somehow today. I mean, now that we know about each other, it'd be nice to know a little more. Other than the fact that we… exist. I just wasn't sure how to bring it up, 'cause, you're a doctor. You're _both_ doctors. You're obviously busy."

Arizona let out a little laugh. "I remember medical school. You'll be plenty busy yourself. Between lectures, labs, friends."

Sawyer's face fell a little at the last word. "Actually since last year should have been my fourth year… all of my friends graduated." She let out a little laugh. "It's weird. This'll be my 5th year living in Seattle, but suddenly, I hardly know anyone. I mean, outside of work."

"Where do you work?" Arizona asked.

"This awesome little record store on 2nd on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then I also work at The Archfield, the hotel, in reception," Sawyer answered.

"You work at The Archfield?" Callie asked. "I used to live at The Archfield!"

Sawyer quirked an eyebrow. "Like, actually live there?"

"Yeah," Callie replied. "For around… 8 months, during my residency."

"Cool," Sawyer replied. Callie knew that if she worked in reception, she knew exactly how much living in The Archfield would cost, and she hoped it eased some of the guilt she would feel for accepting their money. If Callie could afford to live at The Archfield, they could afford to front her the tuition money.

"Yeah, Mark lived there too. He lived there for like 2 years," Callie said, reminiscing.

"Was it really that long?" Arizona asked.

"Yeah, took him a while to commit to Seattle," Callie laughed.

"Mark is our daughter's father," Arizona elaborated.

Sawyer's face burst into a grin. "You guys have a daughter?" she gushed.

Callie nodded. "Sofia," she said as she pulled out her phone and slid it across the table to Sawyer.

"Oh, my god, she's beautiful," Sawyer smiled as she flipped through some pictures.

"You should meet her some time," Callie said as Sawyer returned the phone.

"I would love that," Sawyer replied.

"You should come over for dinner," Arizona invited.

"Really?" Sawyer asked, surprised. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"Wednesday?" Callie asked Arizona, trying to remember their schedules.

"Works for me," Arizona nodded.

"I can trade a shift or something," Sawyer said. "I can make that work."

"Great," Arizona said. She clapped her hands together. The three women sat chatting in the café for another hour before Sawyer had to leave for work. As they exited the café, Arizona reflected on the fact that everything had gone exactly the way she'd hoped. Sawyer had agreed to accept the loan. She wanted to get to know Arizona as much as Arizona wanted to know her. She'd accepted the invitation to dinner. That had been exactly what Arizona had wanted to happen. So she couldn't explain the feeling of unease she had as she slipped into the passenger seat of the car. The strange feeling that everything seemed to be moving just a little too quickly.

**Hey! Hope you made it to the bottom! As always, reviews are obviously not required, but they never fail to make my day. Seriously. They come up on my phone and I get this stupid grin on my face while reading them. Thanks fro reading guys!**


	7. Chapter 7

Tuesday evening, Callie, Arizona and Mark all finished their shifts at roughly the same time. It had been a long, gruelling day for all of them, and as they picked Sofia up from day care, the consensus was that everyone was too tired to cook.

As they walked across the street, Callie called for pizza. Mark lagged a few paces behind the couple and watched as Callie spoke quickly to the pizzeria and Arizona spoke to Sofia, completely absorbed in their daughter. He had noticed a change in the women's behaviour over the past week or so. Arizona had been withdrawn while Callie seemed stressed. Mark took that to mean that Arizona was dealing with something, and Callie wasn't completely sure how to help her through it. He wasn't worried about them as a couple; they had the most stable relationship of any couple he knew. But he loved them both. And he hoped they knew that they could come to him. That he would do anything he could to help.

The pizza consumed, the three parents had passed Sofia around, getting in their goodnight kisses before Callie took her to her room. When Callie left, Arizona wordlessly passed Mark another beer, an unspoken invitation for him to stay past dinner. Mark accepted, and waited patiently for Arizona to talk.

"So my dad has another kid," Arizona said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Mark whipped his head around to look at her. "Your dad…"

"Has another kid," Arizona repeated flatly, taking a long drag of her beer and staring straight ahead. "Another daughter," she added.

"Wow," was all Mark could think to say as he too took drink of his beer. Callie re-entered the room and grabbed her own beer, taking a seat next to her wife on the sofa.

"Have you met her?" Mark asked tentatively.

Arizona nodded.

"What's she like?"

"She's 24, in her last year at UW Med School, shoulda graduated last year but her mom died so she took the year off. Only contacted me because she couldn't afford the tuition on top of her mother's debt. Wanted me to ask my dad to acknowledge her as his kid so that she could apply for a military bursary program. The Colonel, however, doesn't want my mom to find out about the affair so he refused and now Callie and I are paying her tuition."

Arizona's tone was so detached it made Mark nervous. He shot a quick glance at Callie, who had taken Arizona's free hand in her own and was tracing circles on the back of it with her thumb.

"Holy crap," was all Mark could manage.

"Mmm, she's coming over for dinner tomorrow. You should stop by," Arizona deadpanned.

"You guys look alike?" Mark asked.

Arizona nodded and beside her Callie mouthed "a lot" at Mark.

"24 years old, looks like you, sure I'll stop by," Mark said with a smirk, taking a swig of his beer. He was trying to get Arizona to smile.

Arizona let out a little laugh. "Not funny," she replied. But she looked away from the spot on the wall she'd been staring at and made eye contact with Mark.

"How you handling it?" Mark asked sincerely.

Arizona shrugged.

"Yeah, that seems about right," Mark replied. "What's her name?"

"Sawyer," Arizona sighed.

"And you're paying her med school tuition?" Mark confirmed.

Callie and Arizona nodded. "Wow," Mark said again. "That's pretty amazing… I mean, the fact that you're paying her tuition. Not the fact that you suddenly have a sister. That's… Man, _The_ Colonel. I never woulda guessed."

"Me neither," Arizona replied dryly.

Mark gave her a sympathetic look. "Does he know? That you're paying the tuition?"

Callie and Arizona shook their heads.

"Good for you guys," Mark said simply. He took another swig of his beer. Of all the things he had considered Arizona might be going through, this was nowhere on the list.

"Mark, can I ask you something? A personal something?" Arizona asked suddenly.

Mark nodded slowly. "Sure," he said.

"Why did you have an affair?" Arizona asked earnestly. "I know it's not exactly the same, you weren't the one who was married. But you knew that Addison was. And to Derek, who was your best friend."

Mark sighed. "If you want to be with someone badly enough, your brain will accept just about any excuse." He shrugged. "I told myself that they never really loved each other, that he could never love her like I did. I told myself all sorts of things. Deep down, I never really believed them, but I wanted to believe them so bad that almost believing them became enough." He took another long swig of his beer, finishing it.

Arizona nodded. "Thanks," she said.

"Anything you need," Mark replied.

**XXXXXXXX**

Wednesday night, Callie and Arizona finished work at 5. They had organized dinner for 7, so they had a little time to prepare. Nothing fancy, just spaghetti and garlic bread. But Callie made awesome spaghetti sauce and Arizona's garlic bread was always toasted to perfection with just the right amount of garlic. A simple but effective meal that they could prepare together.

When a knock sounded at the door signalling Sawyer's arrival, the table was set, the food was ready and Callie was lying on the living room floor, playing with Sofia. Arizona answered the door.

"Hey," Sawyer greeted warmly. "So you live across the street from the hospital," she smiled, handing a box to Arizona. "You're either really devoted or really lazy."

"A little bit of both," Arizona replied with a smile, opening the box. Inside she found several large, thick and gooey brownies. "Oh my god, these look awesome!" she exclaimed. "Where did you pick these up?"

"Oh, I made them," Sawyer replied.

"Seriously?" Arizona asked, looking at the treat again.

Sawyer nodded. "I like to bake," she shrugged.

"Nice," Callie said, joining them with Sofia in her arms.

Sawyer smiled at the baby. "Hi," she said to Sofia.

"Sofia, this is Sawyer," Callie introduced. "Can you say hi?" Sofia stared at Sawyer, eyes wide. "Sawyer is your aunt," Callie continued, and Arizona felt her stomach momentarily clench at the word.

"Actually, it's kinda great that you can get to know Sofia," Callie said. "Because for having three parents, she's really lacking in the Aunt and Uncle department. Mark's an only child, and I have a sister, Aria, but she lives in Miami."

Callie and Arizona exchanged a brief glance. Callie didn't include the fact that Aria had never actually met Sofia, and as far as their marriage and their daughter were concerned, Aria belonged firmly in the same camp Callie's mother. But for now, Sawyer didn't need to know those details.

"Well then it shouldn't be very hard to become the favourite," Sawyer smiled.

Dinner was progressing smoothly. Sofia was predictably adorable and Sawyer was appropriately fawning over her cuteness. The conversation flowed comfortably and Arizona was actually enjoying herself. Despite her feelings of trepidation, she actually liked Sawyer. She was funny and smart and sweet. The PEDS surgeon was just starting to relax when Callie's pager sounded.

"Damn," Callie said, reading the page. "It's a 911, I have to go,"

Arizona felt a wave of panic hit her as she realized that her buffer was leaving. Aside from their first meeting, Arizona and Sawyer had yet to be alone together. She didn't know why the thought of being alone with Sawyer caused her to panic, she just knew that she did not want Callie to leave. So when her own pager chimed she felt relief wash over her.

Snatching up her pager Arizona said, "Mine's a 911 too, must be a big trauma. I'm so sorry Sawyer."

Sawyer shrugged. "No problem. You gotta go save some lives," she smiled.

A knock sounded at the door. "Yeah," Callie called and Mark strode in.

"You guys get paged too?" he asked. They nodded. "I texted Avery for the details. The roof at the Multiplex on 4th collapsed. 6 theatres caved in. Massive casualties. It's all hands on deck."

Sofia banged her spoon against her highchair, indignant that her Daddy had arrived and not paid her the slightest bit of attention.

"Oh, crap, day care's closed," Callie realized, turning to smile at her daughter.

"So, we can just drop her off at Mrs. Hudson's upstairs, just like we always do after day care's closed," Mark said.

"No, Mrs. Hudson left for London yesterday to visit her sister," Arizona said shaking her head.

"Oh, crap," Mark replied.

"You got a babysitter the other night, Mark," Callie said. "Uh… teenage girl… Sarah! Call her."

"No," Mark shook his head. "When I got back, my apartment smelt like pot. No way."

"You let a pot-head watch our child?" Arizona asked.

"Nah, 'cause _she_ didn't smell like pot. I'm thinking she had her boyfriend over. Either way though, we're done with Sarah," Mark stated.

"Dammit," Callie bit her lip, staring at Sofia.

"I can watch her, if you want," Sawyer offered. "I mean, if you'd be comfortable with that," she hurried to add.

"Seriously? Thank you!" Callie beamed, while at the same time Mark said,

"Yeah, that'd be great," Mark took a step towards her. "Sorry, Mark Sloan," he said, offering her his hand to shake. "You must be Sawyer."

"Nice to meet you," Sawyer smiled.

Mark glanced between Sawyer and Arizona. "Yeah, The Colonel makes very attractive girls," he said.

Sawyer cringed. "You just made it awkward," she said, withdrawing her hand.

"Yeah, he does that," Callie replied, rolling her eyes.

"It was a compliment," Mark shrugged.

"Next time try _you have nice eyes_ or something," Sawyer laughed good-naturedly.

"Are you sure Sawyer?" Arizona asked, a nagging feeling in her gut. "We're gonna end up being at the hospital all night."

Sawyer gestured to her bag by the door. "I never go anywhere without a textbook," she shrugged. "I can study here just as easily as I can study at my apartment once she falls asleep. I honestly don't mind."

"You rock," Callie smiled, grabbing her stuff together. "Bye baby," Callie pressed a kiss to Sofia's forehead and Arizona and Mark did the same.

Less than 5 minutes later the trio was hurrying across the street to the hospital they'd left just 3 hours ago. A quick pit stop in the attending's change room to don scrubs and Sofia's parents were quickly swallowed up in the chaos that was the ER, each having their name called the moment they set foot in the pit.

It was several hours later before Callie and Arizona ran into each other. Callie was standing in front of the board, trying to figure out where she needed to be while Arizona came down the hall, cell phone in hand.

"Hey," the Latina greeted upon seeing her wife.

"Hey," Arizona replied, her focus still on her phone.

"Geez, it's like surgical bumper cars," Callie said, scanning the board. Every single minute had been allotted to a surgery. Surgeons were running from one OR to another with no time to spare while awkward gaps appeared for others. Arizona had still not looked up from her phone. "Is that your other wife?" Callie teased when Arizona still failed to look up.

Arizona chuckled. "Just checking on Sofia," she shrugged.

Callie raised an eyebrow. Aside from their initial separation anxiety when Sofia was only a few months old, they rarely, if ever, checked up on her when she was left with a sitter. Mainly because if they were thinking about Sofia, they weren't focused on the medicine, and when they weren't focused, people could die.

"How's she doing?" Callie asked.

"Sawyer says she's sound asleep," Arizona replied, replacing the phone in her lab coat pocket.

"Such a good girl," Callie smiled.

Arizona scanned the board. "Kay, so I'll be in OR 1 for the next 50 hours or so,"

"There a lot of kids?" Callie asked.

Arizona nodded grimly. "The second theatre that collapsed was showing The Muppets."

Callie grimaced. "Damn." She sighed. "Go be great babe, I'll see you later."

**XXXXXXXX**

It was 2 in the morning the next time Callie and Arizona ran into each other. Arizona was standing at a nurse's station when Callie rounded the corner.

"Hey," the brunette greeted. "I thought you were gonna be living in OR 1 all night?"

Arizona shrugged. "I was, but we got bumped for Webber. I don't even know what he has, they just said it couldn't wait. They're doing some crazy OR juggling, but I'll be back in OR 2 in a few hours. What about you?"

"I've been in OR 5 all night. I'm literally scrubbing out, then scrubbing back in. Haven't left the room, they just keep wheeling in new cases."

"Seriously," Arizona shook her head. "But you caught a little break?"

"Yeah, Yang snagged my OR. But I'm sure they'll page me when they have another one," Callie sighed.

"Well, if you've got time, do you want to run across the street with me to check on Sofia?" Arizona asked.

Callie shot Arizona a confused look. "What? Why?"

"I just want to check on her," Arizona shrugged.

"She's fine, Arizona," Callie rolled her eyes.

"You don't know that," Arizona grumbled under her breath.

"Babe, she's fine. She's with Sawyer - "

"We don't even know Sawyer!" Arizona snapped.

Callie raised an eyebrow. Gently, she grabbed Arizona's wrist. "C'mere," she said, guiding Arizona into the closest on-call room. Locking the door behind them, Callie turned to face her wife. "Are you upset that we left Sofia with Sawyer?" she asked.

"Callie, we don't know her!" Arizona exclaimed. "We've literally known her for a week and a half and spent all of 4 hours total in her presence. The fact that she and I share some DNA is not a valid reason to trust her with our child!"

"We know her better than some sitter we'd get from an agency," Callie tried to reason. "I mean, apparently Mark left Sofia with a pot-head last week," she tried to joke.

"That doesn't make it okay!" Arizona snapped, exasperatedly. "Less than two weeks ago we didn't know she existed. And now she's in our home, with our daughter…" Arizona sank onto the bed in frustration and Callie sat beside her.

"Arizona, you were the one who invited her to dinner," Callie reminded softly. "You wanted her to come. You said you wanted to get to know her…"

"I know," Arizona sighed.

"You changed your mind?" Callie asked.

Arizona shook her head. "No, I do want to get to know her. I do. I don't know… I just feel like everything is happening so fast."

Callie nodded and wrapped an arm around Arizona's shoulders. "It is happening fast."

"I know I invited her. But then she was in our home and… I don't know. I'm so confused."

"Of course you're confused," Callie said gently. "This whole thing is huge. It's life changing. Your life has changed. But you're right. It hasn't even been 2 weeks. Sometimes you're gonna be okay with the change, other times you're going to resent it. It's okay to feel conflicted. In fact, it'd be weird if you didn't."

Arizona dropped her head against Callie's shoulder.

"So we'll just take it slower," Callie continued. "For now, stick to coffee in nice, neutral locations. Go from there. You can meet as often as you're comfortable with. And I will keep coming to be your buffer for as long as you want."

Arizona let out a little laugh and pulled back to look at Callie. "You're amazing," she said sincerely and Callie smiled. "Seriously, Calliope, I don't know how I got so lucky. I… I just really love you."

Callie placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "I love you too," she said, grabbing Arizona's wrist to look at the blonde's watch. "It's 2:30," she said. "We've basically been at the hospital since 9 this morning. Let's try and get some sleep. They'll page us when the ORs open up." Arizona nodded. She curled up next to Callie and sleep took both of them almost instantly.

**Okay! Hope you made it to the end :) As always, your reviews and feedback really make my day. Seriously, I love it when you guys ask questions (if it's for clarity I'll answer, if it's about what's coming up in the plot – I'll never tell) or make predictions or give suggestions. Super awesome perk of being a story teller.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello out there. This update is coming to you live from Lucerne, Switzerland. For those of you who don't know, I'm an exchange student, currently on exchange in Scotland. But it's Spring break here, so I'm off on a little trip with some friends. The first leg of which is Switzerland! I'm sitting in my hotel room, and the internet suddenly decided to work, so I thought I'd go ahead and update now, because I'm not sure when my next chance to do it will be…**

It was after 9 before Callie and Arizona were making their way down the hallway to their apartment. They were both tired, but not exhausted. They'd actually been left alone in the on call room for over 5 hours due to a lack of available ORs, and both women had managed to get a pretty decent sleep. Usually the idea of calling the rest they got in an on call room "sleep" was laughable to Callie, but when Arizona was curled up next to her, Callie could manage to sleep pretty much anywhere. Making their way down the hall, the brunette could hear music, and as they neared their door, she realized it was coming from their apartment.

Pushing open the door, the sight that met Callie brought an immediate smile to her face. Sawyer stood in the middle of their living room, Sofia in her arms, dancing to Maroon 5's _Give a Little More_.

Maroon 5 wasn't a group Callie would say she was a fan of, they were a little too pop-y for her taste, although she didn't actually dislike their music. They were a band much closer to Arizona's music preference. But as Sawyer twirled around the room, still unaware of the couple's presence, Callie couldn't deny that this was great dancing music; the beat was quick and the melody catchy.

While their music tastes seemed to coincide, Callie noted that Sawyer was nowhere near the dancer Arizona was. Learning that Arizona could dance had been a pleasant surprise for Callie early in the relationship. Arizona moved effortlessly and confidently to the beat coupled with a sensuality that never failed to make Callie feel a little light-headed. It wasn't that Sawyer had no sense of rhythm; her moves were clearly in time with the beat, but there was no ease or grace in her steps. As she continued to watch however, Callie realized that there was something sort of a_dork_able about Sawyer's awkward dancing. It was kind of endearing.

Twirling around again, Sawyer finally caught sight of Callie and Arizona. She pointed for Sofia, whose rapt attention had been focused on Sawyer. Sofia followed Sawyer's outstretched arm, and squealed with delight when she saw her mommies standing in the doorway.

Handing Sofia to Arizona, Sawyer smiled at the couple who greeted their daughter with a plethora of kisses. In the background, the song changed from Maroon 5 to The White Stripes _Seven Nation Army_ and Callie realized that Sawyer's taste in music might be closer to her own than she thought.

"I love this song," the brunette said, conversationally.

"Me too," Sawyer smiled. "This is my dancing break playlist."

"Dancing break?" Callie asked.

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah, when I've been studying for too long, and I feel my brain turning to mush, I get up and have a dancing break."

"Oh, you dance it out," Callie said, familiar with the concept from years of living with Cristina.

"Dance it out…" Sawyer repeated. "Yeah, I'm gonna use that. That's so much better than dancing break."

"So did Sofia make you need a dancing break?" Arizona asked, smiling into her daughter's hair.

Sawyer laughed. "No. She was perfect. She just seemed like the kinda girl who'd like to dance."

"Just like her mommies," Callie smiled, reaching for her wallet. Pulling out a few bills she offered them to the younger woman. "Thank you so much Sawyer, you really were a life saver," she smiled.

Sawyer let out a short laugh and held up her hand. "No," she said, taking a step away from the cash Callie offered her. "Seriously, no. I don't mind watching her."

"You were here all night though," Callie reasoned.

"Exactly. She was asleep most of the time. Seriously, it was no big deal. Plus, you fed me dinner first."

"Dinner that was interrupted," Callie tried again.

"Maybe for you," Sawyer chuckled. "I had seconds after you left."

Callie glanced towards the kitchen and found it spotless, meaning Sawyer had cleaned up at some point. She felt guilty and made one more attempt to pay Sawyer, but the younger woman just shook her head.

"At least let us feed you breakfast then," Arizona offered and Callie shot her wife a surprised look. After Arizona's little breakdown, she'd figured that the blonde would want Sawyer out of their apartment as soon as possible. Arizona returned Callie's look of surprise with a little shrug that Callie took to mean _I'll explain later_.

Sawyer shook her head. "You guys were at the hospital all night. You worked all day. You must be exhausted."

"We slept between surgeries," Arizona replied with a shake of her head. "Stay for breakfast," she repeated.

Sawyer hesitated for a moment when The White Stripes' song ended and Arizona caught the distinctive first notes of _Dedication to My Ex_ coming through their speakers. Sawyer jumped over the couch and dived for her iPod, skipping to the next track. As Amy Winehouse's _Valerie _took over, Sawyer looked sheepishly up at the couple.

"Great dancing song," she said. "But not appropriate for baby ears."

Arizona laughed. "Stay for breakfast," she repeated a third time.

Sawyer glanced at her watch and thought another moment before replying, "Okay."

"Awesome," Arizona smiled. "I want waffles"

Callie rolled her eyes. "Meaning you want me to make you waffles."

Arizona shot Callie a particularly dazzling smile and Callie chuckled.

"Fine," the brunette continued. "But I'm making the peanut butter waffles."

Arizona laughed. "Yeah, no complaints here. Peanut butter waffles rock. Seriously, Sawyer, you'll love these. They're awesome."

Sawyer bit her bottom lip. "Umm, actually, I'm allergic to peanuts…" she said hesitantly. "But if you want peanut butter waffles, go for it! You honestly do not have to feed me."

Callie waved her hand dismissively. "No. Of course, we'll make something else. Arizona's got a thing for waffles so we have more than one cookbook devoted entirely to waffle recipes." Sawyer laughed. "How about those apple walnut waffles?" Callie suggested. "I really like those too."

Sawyer ran her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I'm allergic to walnuts too," she apologized.

"Apple cinnamon," Callie tried, determined to cook something Sawyer could eat.

"Sounds delicious," Sawyer laughed.

"We have a winner," Callie said triumphantly, beginning to collect the ingredients.

"Peanuts and tree nuts?" Arizona asked softly.

Sawyer's head snapped around to look at the PEDS surgeon. "Sorry?" she replied.

"You're allergic to peanuts and all tree nuts right?" Arizona repeated the question.

"Uh, yeah…" Sawyer answered.

"Tim was allergic to peanuts and tree nuts too," Arizona offered.

"Oh," Sawyer said, unsure of how to respond. The topic of Timothy had yet to come up in any of their conversations.

Arizona smiled, settling Sofia in her playpen. "Yeah, you remind me of him actually."

Sawyer raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Arizona said, leaving Sofia and coming to join Callie and Sawyer in the kitchen. "Your sense of humour is similar and you're determined but easy-going, that and your really awkward dancing."

Sawyer laughed. She paused before she asked, "How long since he…"

"It was six years in January," Arizona replied. "So six years, seven months." Arizona paused. "He was a hero," she continued. "His unit was visiting a school, an all girls school. A Taliban supporter threw a live grenade through a window into the classroom. Tim dove on top of it. Saved his unit, and all the little girls in that school. 16 of them. His unit got him out of there, but he succumbed to his injuries before they could get him to a doctor."

"That's… incredible," Sawyer finally settled on an adjective after a long pause. "Your brother was a hero," she added sincerely.

Behind them, Callie remained quiet. Arizona was tremendously proud of her brother, and she didn't dislike talking about him. But she rarely mentioned his death. She preferred to talk about the fun loving, easy-going, goofy guy Tim had been. Callie could count the number of times Arizona had explicitly spoken of his death on one hand.

After briefly mentioning Timothy's death, the conversation turned to less touchy subjects and breakfast was highly enjoyable for all three women with Arizona recounting several amusing anecdotes of shenanigans she and Timothy had managed to get into as children.

"So we were at my Aunt Joyce's, my mom's older sister, like… 15 years older or something," Arizona laughed. "She was this nasty old spinster with a yippy little Chihuahua named Lacey. Tim and I seriously hated visiting her, but my mom always made us come. This time, it was Easter and we'd decorated eggs that morning and Tim stole a thing of purple dye…"

"Oh my god," Callie laughed, never having heard this story before. "You dyed the dog?"

Arizona nodded. "Oh yeah, we did such a good job too, she was so purple. We were in so much trouble. My mother was livid. Joyce was hysterical. We thought Mom would stop bringing us to visit after that. But instead she started visiting more and made us come every time."

Callie and Sawyer dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Sawyer left just before 11, with the promise to text Arizona and arrange another coffee date. As Arizona went about cleaning up the kitchen, Callie perched on the countertop, watching her. Eventually she sighed. "I'm gonna need to buy a vowel, babe."

"Hmm?" Arizona questioned, shutting the dishwasher.

"I want to be supportive when it comes to Sawyer, and you getting to know Sawyer," Callie started.

"You have been Calliope, you've been amazing," Arizona replied earnestly.

"And I get that you're going to go back and forth about her, that you're going to be conflicted, but I wasn't expecting complete one-eighties. Last night you were upset because things were moving too quickly with her but this morning you're inviting her for breakfast and telling her about your brother. And that's great that you want to talk about Tim with her… it's just hard to keep up."

Arizona's face fell. "I'm sorry Callie, I know I'm all over the place - "

"No, don't be sorry," Callie cut her off quickly. "Arizona, you're handling this whole thing so much better than I would be. I know it's confusing. I just want to be able to help you, to give you whatever you need and - "

"That's hard when I can't make up my mind about what I want," Arizona finished with a sigh. She took a step towards her wife and came to stand between Callie's legs. "I'm sorry I'm a nut bar."

Callie laughed. "You're not a nut bar," she said, wrapping Arizona in a hug. "And I'll figure it out. But it'd help me if you could explain what made you change your mind."

Arizona nodded and took Callie's hand, leading her to the couch. Arizona situated herself against the armrest and Callie lay down to rest with her head in Arizona's lap. Arizona idly began running her fingers through Callie's hair as she spoke.

"I think what had me so freaked out last night was more the fact that she was watching Sofia than the fact that she was in our apartment. Because I wasn't upset when she showed up for dinner and we basically lived in a frat house for years so it's not like I'm not used to sharing this place."

Callie chuckled and Arizona smiled when she felt Callie's laughter against her leg.

"But then this morning," Arizona continued, "When we came to the apartment and saw her dancing with Sof…"

"That was really sweet," Callie agreed.

"It just didn't seem like such a big deal anymore," Arizona attempted to explain. "Because you were here and Sofia was obviously fine. It just seemed like the right thing to do, inviting her to stay for breakfast. I do think you're right, I think next time we'll pick a more neutral location to meet just to avoid any potential freak-outs on my part, and leave Sofia with Mark, and I'm probably gonna keep asking you to come along - "

"I don't mind," Callie assured her quickly. "I actually kinda like her."

"Me too," Arizona agreed.

The pair fell quiet for a while, listening to the soft cooing sounds Sofia was making as she slept in the playpen.

"What about Timothy?" Callie eventually asked quietly. "I was kinda surprised to hear you talk about him today."

"I was too a little bit," Arizona admitted as she resumed playing with Callie's hair. "When she mentioned the allergies this morning it made me think of him though, and what he would think about… all of this. Dad's affair and Sawyer." She paused, thinking. "Tim always had an easier time making friends than I did. Whenever we moved, there was always a period where people really only knew me as _Tim's little sister_. Being Tim's little sister was so tied to my identity… I thought I wouldn't want to share that, because technically she can make that claim now too."

A loud squeak came from Sofia's playpen and both mothers snapped their attention to their daughter. But Sofia had simply rolled on top of an annoying stuffed chicken that clucked when you pressed its stomach. Cristina had bought it for her. Callie had tried to throw it away but Sofia loved it.

Content that Sofia was still sleeping, Arizona resumed talking. "Tim… he'd be so pissed at Dad. He'd be angry, about the affair, about how Dad treated Sawyer. And, he never got to meet her. They should have known each other Callie. Tim would have really liked her. Because even if Dad isn't a good man in a storm… Tim was a hero in a storm. I just thought Sawyer should know that. That every Robbins male isn't a complete jerk."

The pair fell silent again before Callie said, "You really dyed your aunt's dog purple?"

Arizona laughed. "Yep. The worst part was, stupid dog got away from us before she dried, and made purple footprints all over the house. Tim and I were scrubbing them for _hours_."

"And it was _Tim_ who stole the dye?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I might have been the one who suggested it," Arizona shrugged.

"I knew it," Callie laughed.

**So. Like I said, I'll be on vacation for the next little while (which is actually quite conducive to writing what with layovers, train rides, plane rides) but the thing is that we are students, so we are mostly staying at hostels, and I'm not sure what the internet access will be like. I'll update as often as I can, I promise.**

**Side Note: I highly recommend "Dancing It Out" seriously, I've started using it as a study break and it is super cathartic. All of the songs I mentioned here are actually part of my own personal "Dance It Out" playlist.**

**If it's not too much trouble, you can click the blue link below to leave me a review. Or to just say hi, if you don't have any real review in mind. You wouldn't believe how happy your feedback makes me. When my phone buzzes to tell me I have a review, I get all giddy with smiles :) **


	9. Chapter 9

It had been over two months since Sawyer babysat for Sofia and Arizona felt that their relationship was progressing nicely. They had stayed clear of Arizona's apartment, but their coffee dates had taken on a semi-regular status and it had been a month since Arizona had felt the need to bring Callie along as a buffer. She still tagged along if she was off at the time of one of their meetings, but Arizona no longer scheduled their little dates around Callie's schedule. All in all, Arizona was pleased with the way things were going, but it still came as a surprise one afternoon when Arizona looked up to see Sawyer walking down the hall of the PEDS ward.

As Sawyer approached the nurse's station Arizona was standing at, it dawned on the PEDS surgeon briefly that it was at this exact nursing station that she and Sawyer had first met.

"Hey," Sawyer greeted cheerfully.

"What's up?" Arizona asked.

"Just wondered if you were free to grab a cup of coffee," Sawyer shrugged. "Nowhere fancy, just down in the cafeteria?"

"Uh…" Arizona hesitated. While their relationship had been progressing smoothly, this was the first time Sawyer had ever shown up unannounced. Arizona had never seen the younger woman outside of one of their scheduled meetings. "Sure," Arizona agreed, figuring there was no harm.

Sawyer smiled. "Great. I was, uh, I was just in the area," she shrugged again.

"I've gotta go on rounds first, get ready for tomorrow, you know, Halloween, even in PEDS we get busy. But then I'm done for the day, so if you don't mind waiting…" Arizona added.

"Yeah, no problem," Sawyer agreed. She made her way over to a waiting area and sat down. Arizona expected to see Sawyer pull out one of her ever present textbooks, but the younger woman simply kicked her bag under her chair and stared off into space.

45 minutes later Arizona returned to find Sawyer, her head resting on her hand, staring absently at the wall opposite her.

"Hey," Arizona greeted, rousing the younger woman from her thoughts.

"Hey," Sawyer smiled.

"So, I'm actually done my shift," Arizona said. "So if you want I can get changed and we can head out. But if your heart is really set on cafeteria coffee…"

Sawyer laughed. "As enticing as cafeteria coffee sounds - "

"ROBBINS!" Karev bellowed from down the hall and Arizona's head snapped up. Alex ran towards them. "It's Brandon. Looks like a ruptured aortic arch dissection," he called as he sprinted past. "OR 2," he called over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner.

"Shit," Arizona breathed. "Sorry, Sawyer," Arizona said quickly, but Sawyer simply shook her head to say that no apology was necessary. "Somebody page Altman!" Arizona yelled as she too disappeared around the corner.

**XXXXXXXX**

Five hours later, Arizona and Alex trudged wearily from the OR. It had been a rough surgery, but the patient was stable.

"Great catch, Karev," Arizona smiled as the pair headed back towards the nurse's station.

Alex beamed. "Thanks," he replied. Catching sight of the blonde woman Arizona had been talking to before the surgery Alex paused. "Hey, is that… Is that her?" he asked.

At this point, most of the hospital had heard about Arizona's illegitimate sister. Arizona had told Mark and Teddy herself. As well as Bailey one night at Joe's when Arizona had been tipsy and the whole story had spilled out. Arizona wasn't sure if one of those three had spread the story, or perhaps Callie had shared with someone, although she didn't feel like either case was very likely. She figured someone had overheard her drunken rambling at Joe's. For a busy bar, it was surprisingly easy to eavesdrop on other's conversations. But Arizona didn't mind. Sawyer wasn't her secret.

Arizona raised an eyebrow at Alex and the younger resident backpedalled. "I mean… I'm gonna go take a shower," he said, hurrying in the other direction.

Arizona chuckled to herself. Alex really was a good guy. Making her way to the seating area, Arizona approached Sawyer.

"Hey, you're still here?" she asked in greeting. Assuming Sawyer hadn't left and come back, she'd been sitting in that chair for over 6 hours at this point.

Turning her head at Arizona's words, the PEDS surgeon could see that Sawyer was crying. Hastily wiping at her tears, Sawyer replied, "Uh, yeah."

"What's wrong?" Arizona asked quickly, crouching in front of the younger woman.

Sawyer continued to wipe at her tears in vain as they coursed steadily down her face. "I'm sorry… I…" she stuttered.

"Sawyer, what's wrong?" Arizona tried again gently.

Sawyer ran a hand through her hair. "My mom died a year ago today," she replied quietly. "I'm sorry. It's not your problem. I don't mean to unload on you it's just… I didn't have anywhere else to go," she finished in a whisper.

"Sawyer," Arizona breathed. She leaned forward, and for the first time, she hugged her sister. Sawyer tensed in the embrace at first, surprised by Arizona's actions, but after a moment she relaxed, and put her arms around Arizona in turn.

After a while, Arizona released Sawyer, and sat in the chair beside her.

"Thanks," Sawyer said shakily. Arizona simply gave her a reassuring smile. "Halloween was on a Sunday last year," the younger woman stated. "The guy was coming back from an early Halloween party and ran a red light. T-boned her car. She died at the scene. He blew a point two-one but walked away with nothing but a couple of bruises." She shook her head. "Life sucks sometimes."

Arizona nodded. "I'm so sorry Sawyer."

"I just wanted to be distracted today. After I got off work. That's why I came by without calling. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to use you like that."

"No, no," Arizona said. "I get wanting to be distracted. I always feel the same way on the anniversary of Tim's death. What you need is a drink," she said with a little laugh before a look of horror came over her face. "Oh, shit, no, that was insensitive… With your mom… I'm sorry."

Sawyer let out a dry laugh. "No, you're right. I do need a drink. We just won't drive," she added seriously.

"Okay," Arizona said earnestly. "I need to shower, and change, and probably eat something, but why don't you go ahead across the street and meet Callie and I'll meet the two of you at Joe's?"

"Okay," Sawyer nodded. "Thanks, Arizona. I really appreciate it."

Arizona's response was simply a sincere smile, and as Sawyer rounded the corner, the PEDS surgeon pulled out her phone.

"Hey you, I thought you'd be home hours ago," Callie greeted.

"Yeah, sorry, got pulled into surgery," Arizona replied.

"What's up?" Callie asked. "You on your way home now?"

"Kinda," Arizona replied. "Sawyer's on her way over to meet you."

"Really?" Callie asked.

"Yeah. Today is the one year anniversary of her mom's death," Arizona explained.

"Oh, shit," Callie breathed.

"She stopped by to see if I could have coffee but I got pulled into surgery and she ended up sitting here for like 6 hours. I told her we'd take her out for a drink. She just looks like she needs to be distracted."

"Okay," Callie agreed. "I know a great distraction. It's called tequila."

Arizona chuckled. "So I'll meet the two of you at Joe's?"

Sounds like a plan," Callie agreed. "I'll see you in a bit."

**XXXXXXXX**

As Callie and Sawyer sat down at the bar, Callie signalled to Joe, holding up two fingers. Joe quickly brought over two shots of tequila, knowing Callie's preference, but paused before handing Sawyer her drink.

"I need to see some ID," he said to the younger woman.

"Seriously Joe?" Callie asked. "You think I'd bring a kid into your bar?"

Joe shrugged. Sawyer handed over her driver's license and said, "It's fine. The law is you have to ask if I look under 25, right? I am under 25."

"And you look like you're about 19," Joe added, handing Sawyer back her license.

"Really, Joe? You think I'd try to buy a 19 year old a drink?" Joe shot her a look. "Don't answer that," Callie snapped. Sawyer downed her shot and Callie said, "You'll probably want to keep those coming."

But 3 shots in, Callie could already tell the alcohol was affecting Sawyer. They'd switch from shots to margaritas, and were sipping them slowly. It didn't surprise her that the younger woman had an alcohol tolerance similar to Arizona's. Callie had never gone drinking with Sawyer before, so she wondered vaguely if the younger woman's drunken behaviour would also be similar to Arizona's. Drunk Arizona meant her wife became flirty and insatiable. Callie decided to test her theory.

Pointing at a young guy across the bar Callie said, "That guy has been watching you since we got here."

Sawyer's eyes followed Callie's outstretched finger, but the younger woman just shrugged. "I have a boyfriend," she said.

Callie started. "You do?" she asked. She'd never heard Sawyer mention a boyfriend before.

"Technically," Sawyer sighed. "In reality we're really just two people who haven't bothered to break up yet." Callie gave her a confused look and Sawyer elaborated. "We were in med school together, in the same year. But then I took a year off, and Michael graduated, along with all of my other friends. Now he's an intern who lives in Texas and he doesn't have time to be in a regular relationship, let alone a long distance one. I haven't even spoken to him since… Tuesday." Sawyer sighed and took a long sip of her drink.

As Sawyer nursed her drink, Callie realized she'd been wrong about the blonde. She wasn't a horny drunk; she was a chatty drunk. Her little story about her boyfriend might be the most intimate detail Sawyer had ever revealed about herself. It wasn't that Sawyer didn't talk about herself, Callie just always felt like Sawyer carefully weighed and considered what she said in her and Arizona's presence. But it seemed tonight that she was letting her guard down. Eager to learn more about the young woman, Callie tried a different tactic.

"You really miss your mom, huh?" Callie asked.

Sawyer nodded. "So do you," she replied.

Callie choked on her drink. "What?" she coughed.

"You miss your mom too," Sawyer repeated. Callie shot her another confused look. "You talk about your dad all the time but never your mom," Sawyer said. "Whenever your mom does come up, you get this look, like you miss her. But she's not dead…" Sawyer paused thinking. "No, if she was dead you would have said something. You're… estranged?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah I guess," Callie replied, shocked at how observant Sawyer was. It was a little unnerving.

Sawyer tilted her head, studying Callie. "Not big on the fact that you have a wife?" she guessed.

Callie biting her lip was confirmation enough for Sawyer who shook her head. "That's her loss, Cal. You guys are awesome. You're awesome together."

If Callie hadn't been mildly shocked by the turn their conversation had taken she probably would have laughed at Sawyer's use of Arizona's favourite adjective. Instead she found herself wondering how they had ended up talking about the intimate details of her family life when she'd set out to discover more about Arizona's sister.

"Seriously, I think you guys are the most stable couple I've ever met," Sawyer added.

Callie laughed. "That might be a little sad," she said.

Sawyer shrugged. "It's not exactly high praise if you knew the losers my mom dated."

_Here we go_ Callie thought. _A chance to find out a little about Sawyer's childhood, other than the fact that she grew up in Vegas._

"She didn't have great taste in men?" Callie asked.

Sawyer laughed. "No. After Daniel, the Marine, the textbook _good guy_ who left her, I think she wanted to date his complete opposite. So she dated jerks. Mean jerks."

"Mean?" Callie questioned.

"Mean," Sawyer agreed. "Drunks mostly. Angry drunks. But there was never anyone serious until Ray."

"Ray was your mom's boyfriend? For how long?" Callie asked.

Sawyer paused. "8 years. Give or take. He moved in when I was 8, I don't know how long they were together before that but I doubt it was very long, and he went to prison when I was 16."

"He went to prison?" Callie asked, startled.

Sawyer nodded. "Something to do with a bar fight. He's probably out by now. Or maybe not. He was always an angry, violent guy. It wouldn't surprise me to find out he went back."

"Angry and violent how?" Callie asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

Sawyer paused, trying to figure out how to explain. She ran her hand through her hair before realization hit her. She extended her hand to Callie, palm up. "See that?" she asked, running a finger over her palm along a dark scar.

Callie nodded, now more afraid than ever at where this story was going.

"I was… 9," Sawyer began. "My mom was away. I told you she was a flight attendant, so I ended up spending a lot of time alone with Ray." Callie's stomach clenched at these words, but she said nothing. "I was in the third grade," Sawyer continued. "We'd had some kind of contest that day, math something-or-other, and I won. I got to pick a prize out of the treasure chest on the teacher's desk and I chose a super ball. I remember it was purple, 'cause that's my favourite colour." She paused and took a sip of her drink. "Ray was watching basketball in the living room. I walked in and bounced the ball off the wall and startled him. He dropped his beer and the bottle shattered. He started yelling at me to clean it up, so I did. The first piece of glass I picked up was a big piece from the base of the bottle, and when I did, Ray grabbed my hand and squeezed until the glass cut me, and then he just kept pressing. Hurt like a bitch," she finished, looking to the scar on her hand. "But that was Ray. He had a hair trigger and always overreacted. He was angry, mean and violent," Sawyer shrugged. "I was scared of him. My mom was scared of him, but she'd never leave him. I think after Daniel left her, she was just terrified of ending up alone again."

Callie stared at her, mouth agape. The air of detachment with which Sawyer spoke of her past abuse somehow made it that much worse. "Sawyer," Callie started slowly.

A look of horror came over Sawyer's face, as if she suddenly realized she'd shared too much. "Oh god, don't tell Arizona," she pleaded suddenly.

"What?" Callie asked.

"Please don't tell Arizona," Sawyer repeated. "She feels guilty. I can tell, she feels guilty that Daniel _chose her_ or… whatever. I just know that if you tell her what happened to me, she'll feel even more guilty and I don't want that. None of this is her fault. She shouldn't have to feel bad that she had a good childhood."

Callie nodded, and as she did, her eyes caught sight of a familiar face standing a few feet behind Sawyer. The look on Arizona's face made it very clear to Callie that she had overheard everything Sawyer had just said, because Arizona looked like Callie felt – like she wanted to be sick. Without speaking, Arizona made her way to the bathroom.

"Would you excuse me for a minute?" Callie asked quickly, "Bathroom," she indicated over her shoulder.

Sawyer simply nodded and motioned to order another margarita while Callie hurriedly made her way back to her wife.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! Greetings from Venice! We left Berlin this morning. It was pretty amazing. And now we are in Venice for a few days. I've been here less than 8 hours and I've had gelato twice, hehe. And, new bonus. This hostel has wifi! So welcome to chapter 10. I know you probably got a few e-mails saying Chapter 10 was up. I'm sorry about that. Not sure what was going on with the site. But if you're reading this now - it's finally working!**

Callie made her way back to the bathroom quickly, and was relieved to find it empty except for Arizona. Her wife was gripping the edge of the sink, her knuckles white and her head bowed. Callie took a tentative step towards her.

"So how much of that did you hear?" Callie asked hesitantly.

Arizona grit her teeth. "I walked in right around the time she started describing her abusive childhood." She turned and slammed open the door of the closest bathroom stall. Callie jumped at the crash. "I _just_ got my head around the fact that my dad has another kid. Now I have to try and accept the fact that because he abandoned her she had an abusive childhood? Seriously?" Arizona dropped her head into her hands. "This has to be a joke. My life cannot be this messed up." Arizona looked up at Callie, as if pleading with her to yell _April fools_!

As Callie looked sadly back at her wife, she saw the emotions dancing in her eyes. The anger she felt at her father, the disgust she felt for what had happened to Sawyer, but hiding near the back, Callie saw the guilt. She'd been seeing it for months now, but she'd always attributed it to Arizona's decision not to tell her mother about Sawyer. She thought her wife felt guilty about keeping this secret from Barbara, but now she realized that wasn't the case. Sawyer was right. Arizona did feel guilty that she'd been the one with the happy childhood. Callie mentally berated herself. How the _hell_ had Sawyer seen that when she hadn't? She'd been so quick to attribute all of Arizona's feelings to the blonde's parents that she hadn't stopped to consider how Arizona might blame herself.

"She's right isn't she?" Callie asked softly. "You do feel guilty, don't you?"

Arizona shook her head. "How can I not, Callie? He's her dad too, but he chose me. I got to go off and have a happy idyllic childhood, and she was abused. How is that fair?"

"It's not," Callie agreed. "But neither is you beating yourself up about it. Arizona, you were a child. You had absolutely no control over your father's actions, his decisions. There is no guilt to be placed on you here."

"I know that, Callie, on some level, I know that. But it doesn't matter. I still feel guilty."

Callie sighed. "You should have told me. I knew you felt guilty, but I thought you were just feeling bad about keeping this secret from your mom."

Arizona let out a bitter laugh. "I feel guilty about that too," she said dryly.

Callie took a step towards her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I love you. I don't want you to feel like this," she said earnestly.

"I know," Arizona sighed. "I love you too." She paused and her eyes darted around the room. "We seem to have a lot of important moments in this bathroom."

Callie threw her head back and laughed. "C'mon," she said, taking Arizona's hand. "Your sister handles alcohol like you do. If we aren't out there soon we'll be peeling her off of the bar floor."

Returning to the bar, Callie found that Sawyer had another empty margarita glass in front of her and was nursing a third. And she was very, very drunk. The couple sat beside her, and Sawyer cocked her head to the side. "You know," she stated matter-of-factly to Arizona.

"What?" Arizona asked.

"Me, you know about me," Sawyer stated as if it were obvious. "The guilt. It's all over your face, Arizona."

"Okay, you're like creepy perceptive," Callie grumbled.

Sawyer nodded. "Yes I am," she slurred. "I got really good at reading people very quickly as a kid. Usually I keep it to myself though, 'cause people find it annoying. When you know stuff about them."

"You're right," Arizona stated. "I do know. I overheard you telling Callie. Something you should know about this bar is there's always someone listening."

Sawyer nodded. "Good to know. Now. I know you're gonna wanna talk about it. I get that. And that's okay. We can talk about it. But, can we not talk about it tonight? Because I'm drunk, and it's October 30th, and I _hate_ October 30th. I don't wanna talk about Ray right now. I wanna tell you stories about how awesome my mom was. So, can we make a deal that we'll just talk about it later?"

Arizona nodded. "I'd love to hear about your mom."

**XXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Callie and Arizona had only been sitting at the breakfast bar for around half an hour, nursing their coffee, when they heard Sawyer rousing from their couch.

As the younger woman stumbled towards them she grumbled, "Why is your kitchen so clean?"

"What?" Arizona asked, bemused.

"Everything is so shiny and it's magnifying the bright," Sawyer explained, pressing the heel of her palm against her temple.

"Ah, sorry about that," Arizona chuckled, offering the younger woman some Advil and water.

"Thank you," Sawyer replied, taking the items, popping two Advil and drinking the water greedily.

The three women sat and chatted for the better part of an hour, eating a breakfast of bagels and fruit before a lull fell in the conversation and Sawyer cleared her throat.

"So… I just want to apologize for last night," Sawyer started sheepishly. "I can't believe I got that drunk. I'm really embarrassed."

"Don't be," Callie laughed.

"Yeah, you're actually not an annoying drunk," Arizona added. "You're kind of hilarious."

Sawyer glanced at her over her coffee. "Well that's good to know," she gave a little laugh and shook her head. "I know better than to play with tequila. It has never been my friend."

"And you call yourself a college student," Callie teased.

Sawyer chuckled. "And the other thing," she paused. "I told you about Ray last night, didn't I?"

"You did," Callie agreed.

Sawyer sighed. "I never talk about him. I don't like to think about him, or what he did, if I can help it. But I brought him up and kinda just dumped that on you out of the blue, so I get it, if you have questions."

"How often…" Arizona asked, letting the question that had been running through her head all night hang in the air.

Sawyer shrugged. "I got very good at staying out of Ray's way. I practically lived at my best friend Gabriella's house all through elementary school and when I was home I kept to myself. Ray wasn't controlling. He didn't care where I was; I was just a convenient outlet for his anger when I was around. And really, he preferred to hit my mom. I was his second choice. But how often? I don't know… A couple times a month maybe."

Arizona nodded. "Was it always as bad as your hand?" Callie asked. "Because from that scar, I'd say that was a pretty deep cut."

Sawyer shook her head. "No, it was usually just cuts and bruises. He broke my arm a couple times, and my collarbone once. And he definitely cracked some ribs over the years, but yeah, it was usually just bumps and bruises."

Sawyer paused and looked seriously at Arizona. "I didn't want you to know, because I see how much it upsets you."

"Of course it upsets me," Arizona scoffed. "What happened to you, it's awful, it's despicable and disgusting."

"Yes it is," Sawyer agreed. "But you had nothing to do with it so I really wish you'd stop feeling guilty."

"How can I not feel guilty? My dad could have stopped all that from happening to you."

"Then your dad should feel guilty," Sawyer retorted. She ran a hand through her hair. "Look, Arizona, I'm afraid to tell you stuff because I don't want to make you feel guilty for having a normal childhood. And you're afraid to talk to me because you feel like you're… rubbing it in or something. Like you're gloating over being a happy kid. I don't blame you, for anything, so I really wish you could stop blaming yourself. Otherwise, we're never gonna really get to know each other."

A sort of stunned silence hung over the table for a moment before a loud knock sounded at the door.

"Trick-or-treat!" Mark yelled from the hallway. "Happy Halloween Mommies!"

Callie got up and unlocked the door, and Mark strode in carrying Sofia, dressed in her pink bunny costume. There are very few tense situations that a baby in an adorable Halloween costume can't fix, and all the tension in the room dissipated the moment Sofia flung her plastic carrot onto the ground.

"She's leaving the ears!" Arizona gushed at her daughter. "She kept flinging them off last week when we tried it on. Oh my god, she looks so cute."

"Yeah, there was a tag in it that we missed," Mark explained. "I cut that out and they don't seem to bug her as much anymore. Mind you I just put the ears on in the hallway so they might not last long."

Arizona held out her arms and Mark passed her the baby.

"I gotta grab my camera," Callie beamed.

"She is ridiculously adorable," Sawyer grinned.

"Hey Soy Sauce," Mark greeted. "Didn't know you'd be here this morning."

Sawyer rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Ah ha, that nickname wasn't funny in second grade, and, shockingly, still not funny today."

Mark grinned. "So you here to hang out for Halloween?"

Sawyer shook her head. "No, I actually have to get going. I have class in," she glanced at the clock on the microwave. "Damn, like 25 minutes. I'm gonna be late."

Callie returned with the camera and Sawyer smiled at her. "I gotta go. Thanks so much for last night… and this morning. I'll see you guys later." She turned to leave. "Bye Sof," she added. "Happy Halloween. Make sure your Daddy doesn't steal all your candy," she added with a wink as she hurried out of the apartment.

After Sawyer left, Callie snapped as many photos as she could before Sofia grew tired of her bunny ears and flung them off her head. Mark had to leave for work, so he placed one last kiss on Sofia's ear-free head and waved good-bye to Callie and Arizona.

Callie sat on the couch with Sofia on her lap, appraising Arizona from across the room. "So that was a fun breakfast," Callie started, conversationally.

Arizona rolled her eyes at her wife.

"She kinda made a good point, Arizona," Callie shrugged. "The two of you are never going to have a real relationship if you're constantly pussyfooting around each other."

Arizona threw up her hands in exasperation. "I can't help how I feel Callie, and I feel guilty."

"Why, though?" Callie asked earnestly. "And don't just say because your dad chose you over Sawyer. There's more to it than that, I know there is."

"Callie," Arizona sighed. "It's not… I can't…"

"Can't what?" Callie pressed. "Can't tell me why you feel guilty? There is no guilt to be placed on you! Nothing you could say could - "

"I'm grateful!" Arizona shouted, cutting Callie off.

"What?" Callie asked, bouncing Sofia on her knee when the little girl startled at Arizona's outburst.

"There is a part of me," Arizona began quietly, "that is grateful to my dad for not acknowledging Sawyer."

"What?" Callie repeated.

"If my dad had acknowledged her, in any way, my parent's relationship would have changed. They probably would have gotten divorced and my childhood would have been so different. So there is a part of me that is happy he never acknowledged her. How shitty is that? I'm just, I'm a horrible person."

Callie sighed and deposited Sofia in her playpen before rising and gently grasping Arizona's face in her hands, forcing the blonde to look at her. "Arizona," Callie admonished gently, "you have got to stop doing this." Arizona tried to turn her head away but Callie held her still. "No, look at me," the Latina instructed and Arizona restored their eye contact. "You have got to stop berating yourself for your feelings about Sawyer. You have done everything right since you found out you have a sister. Everything."

"But," Arizona tried, but Callie cut her off.

"No," Callie stated again. "You do not get to feel guilty for having a happy childhood. Everyone should have a happy childhood. You can feel sad for the ones who didn't, but you can't feel guilty about it." Callie released Arizona's face and gently ran her hands down the blonde's arms. "Look," she continued. "You've only known Sawyer 3 months. This is still new, and you are going to keep having a lot of feelings about her. They're not all gonna be good. And that's okay. You need to just let yourself feel them rather than constantly beat yourself up. Otherwise, you are never going to move past this awkward _getting to know you_ stage and actually get to have a real relationship with your sister."

Arizona tilted her head to the side. "I thought I was the speech giver in the family."

Callie laughed. "You are."

Arizona shook her head. "That's like the tenth pep talk you've had to give me I the past few months. I think I have to officially pass my soap box over to you."

Callie chuckled. "I know it's not gonna happen overnight. But you need to make a serious effort to let go of your guilt."

Arizona nodded. "I will."

"Thank you," Callie replied, leaning in for a kiss.

"Pretty sure I should be thanking you," Arizona stated, stealing another kiss.

"Call it even then," Callie chuckled, grabbing the front of Arizona's shirt and dragging her onto her lap as she took a seat on the couch.

Straddling Callie's hips Arizona asked "The baby?" in-between kisses.

Callie glanced at the playpen and saw that Sofia was happily occupying herself with that annoying stuffed chicken. "She's fine. And I'm sure she'll let us know when she's not. Now, I wanna make out on the couch with my wife. Can you help me out with that?"

"I'll see what I can do," Arizona giggled, grinding down on Callie's hips and leaning in to recapture her wife's lips. She knew letting go of her guilt wasn't going to be easy, but Callie always knew just how to make distract her.

**So, the tenth instalment is here. I hope you made it to the end, and as usual, your reviews are absolutely adored and never fail to make me grin, but they are of course, not required. **


	11. Chapter 11

Hello Everyone!

So the consensus seems to be that this story has been a little lacking in the C/A interaction lately. I knew when I started it that I was going to have to be careful not to let the story become too focused on Sawyer, and I promise the focus is definitely going to shift very soon. But, with that being said, I decided to take a little break from the plot and enjoy a little continuation of Callie and Arizona making out on the couch (where I left them last chapter). However this story is rated K+ and by chapter 11, I didn't think it was fair to change that.

So the M rated chapter 11 can be found at this URL: **http:/www. fanfiction .net/s/7999786/1/** (but with no spaces around fanfiction. Not sure why the site puts those in) Please note that this is not a link. The website won't let me post a link in a story. So you need to copy and paste the bold type into the address bar, and then delete the spaces surrounding the word "fanfiction".

If this is giving you trouble, the separately published chapter is titled "Chapter 11" You can find it by clicking on my pen name, Riley Bernard, and selecting it off of my profile. Or simply by searching it on the website's search option.

If you don't want to/aren't comfortable reading smut, no worries, there will be no plot development in chapter 11. It's just a fun little break before we get back into the serious, and chapter 12 should be around for your viewing pleasure in a few days.


	12. Chapter 12

**So this chapter is long. Like twice as long as all the other chapters. Everything that happens in this chapter needed to happen however, and I couldn't find a way to shorten it. And I really didn't want to post it in two chapters. But then, I realized that some people won't have read the M rated chapter 11, and so they have not gotten a new chapter for quite some time now. So perhaps a double chapter is only fair :)**

**A big thank-you to the guest reviewer who sent me the correct translation for the Spanish in this chapter. This is why I leave guest reviews on. For the awesome people like you.**

It by no means happened overnight, but after her talk with (or really from) Callie, Arizona began making a conscious effort to let go of the guilt she felt from her father choosing her over Sawyer. The guilt wasn't rational, Arizona knew that, but that didn't make it any less real. It helped that Sawyer also began making an effort not to shield her past from the PEDS surgeon, and once the younger woman began opening up, Arizona found it easier to do herself. The more comfortable Arizona became with Sawyer, the less guilt she felt. It was clear that Sawyer didn't harbour any grudges, and so little by little, the guilt fell away, until one day Arizona realized she barely felt it anymore.

Her relationship with Sawyer grew stronger too, to the point that Arizona no longer considered the younger woman _her dad's other daughter_ but thought of her as a friend. Now instead of scheduling a coffee date, they simply hung out. Sawyer became a fairly regular fixture at Callie and Arizona's apartment, and the couple had even been by Sawyer's place a few times. (Although hers was a typical student apartment and neither doctor wanted to spend any extended period of time there.) Sawyer had become their preferred babysitter, a job the younger woman relished, and it was clear Sofia adored her aunt.

Yes, it by no means happened overnight, but almost 6 months into their relationship, Sawyer and Arizona had officially left the awkwardness behind them.

Coming home from work, Arizona pushed open the door to their apartment and was met with the immediate reminder that Christmas was only two weeks away. With this being Sofia's first Christmas, Callie wanted everything to be perfect and had gone a little over the top with the decorating. Her apartment looked like a group of drunken elves had invaded the space and decorated to their hearts content, and though she teased Callie about it, Arizona thought it was sweet.

Shutting the door behind her, Arizona found Callie (with Sofia perched on her lap), Mark and Sawyer seated around the table. Empty plates told her they'd already eaten dinner, but she spotted a plate that Callie had made up for her and set away on the counter. Blessing her wife as she made her way to the food, she greeted both her wife and daughter with a kiss as she passed them.

"So what are you doing for Christmas anyway Soy Bean?" Mark asked as Arizona took a seat at the table. "I know that since I have to work Christmas Day, these two are taking the munchkin to Boston to visit her grandparents, but I don't think they ever mentioned what you were doing. Grandparents? Aunts and uncles?"

Sawyer shook her head. "I'm not doing anything."

"What do you mean you're not doing anything?" Arizona asked between mouthfuls.

Sawyer shrugged. "I mean I'm not doing anything. I offered to work but I worked last Christmas and the Archfield has a policy; I can't work two Christmases in a row, so I'm just gonna hang out and watch old Christmas movies like I used to with my mom."

"You're not visiting family?" Mark asked.

"I don't really have any," Sawyer replied. "My grandfather died before I was born and my grandmother passed away when I was really young. I have an aunt, but she lives in Berlin so… It was always just my mom and I for Christmas."

"That's too bad," Mark said. "Hey, if you don't find anything better to do, you can always give me a call when I get off work. We'll get drunk on eggnog," he added with a wink.

"Sounds awesome," Sawyer laughed.

"Alright, well I'll leave you ladies to your evening," Mark said, rising to leave. "Bye-bye Sofia," he added, stealing his daughter from Callie for a moment to kiss her goodbye.

"I gotta go too," Sawyer said, rising as well. "I've got the overnight shift at the Archfield tonight and class in the morning. Should be fun," she added sarcastically.

When Mark and Sawyer had left, Callie sat at the table with Arizona while the blonde ate her dinner. They chatted about the events of their days, current cases they were working on and caught each other up on the hospital gossip.

When Arizona had finished her dinner, they put Sofia through her bedtime routine together and once the baby was asleep, readied themselves for bed.

They had been lying in bed for around half an hour when it dawned on Callie that she had yet to hear Arizona flip the page of the medical journal she was "reading". Callie closed her own book and set it on the nightstand before rolling over onto her side to look at Arizona. The blonde was staring at the journal in her hand but clearly not reading. Her eyes remained motionless and she was biting her bottom lip the way she did when she was deep in thought. Callie watched her for a moment before saying, "What's on your mind?"

"Sawyer," Arizona sighed. "Alone on Christmas… That just sucks."

Callie nodded in agreement. "It does."

"You should be with family on Christmas," Arizona continued, and Callie was fairly certain the blonde hadn't even heard her comment. "I'm her family. I mean, you, me and Sofia, we're her only family."

"We're going to your parent's for Christmas," Callie pointed out.

"I know. That's the problem," Arizona sighed, tossing aside the medical journal. "If she were anyone else we could just invite her to come with us, I mean, there will be lots of people at my parents for Christmas, it'd be fine. But Sawyer - "

"Yeah, I don't see that going well," Callie joked.

"Part of me feels like I'm choosing my dad over her, here," Arizona admitted. "And if it were actually that simple I'd have no trouble choosing her over him considering what a _winner_ he's proven to be lately," she scoffed. "But it's not that simple."

"Because of your mom," Callie offered.

Arizona nodded. "I can't not see my mom at Christmas just because I'm mad at my dad. And my mom doesn't even know I'm mad at my dad because she doesn't know about his other kid. The one that I am abandoning on Christmas so that I can go spend time with the guy who abandoned her in the first place." Arizona flopped back against the pillows. "Stupid, complicated vicious cycle," she muttered.

Callie said nothing. Mostly because she'd already shared with Arizona her view on the blonde's decision not to tell her mother about Sawyer. At first, when they hadn't been sure what would come of the relationship, Callie had been okay with leaving Barbara in the dark. But now, with Sawyer being a rather permanent fixture in their lives and well on her way to becoming a member of the family, Callie thought Arizona should come clean to her mom. It was precisely for moments like this that Callie had been sure telling Barbara was the right thing to do. Eventually both Barbara and Sawyer were going to want to attend the same event, Sofia's birthday party, for example, and it was going to be rather difficult to pass off the woman who looked like a younger version of Arizona as just a friend. Arizona however, still maintained that telling her mother about the affair so far after the fact would do nothing but hurt the woman. While this was partially true, Callie knew that the real reason was that Arizona just couldn't bring herself to be the one who broke her mother's heart.

"So I've been trying to come up with a solution," Arizona continued, rousing Callie from her thoughts. "But the only thing I can come up with… I'd have to lie to my mom."

"Babe, I don't think there's a lie brilliant enough to make bringing Sawyer to Boston a good idea," Callie hedged.

"What? No," Arizona shook her head. "No that would be terrible. Very bad. Plus, we'd never, in a million years, convince her to come. No what I was thinking was that we stay here for Christmas."

"But what about your mom?" Callie asked.

"We'll still go see them, just later, closer to New Years. I mean, we're only going there for Christmas because Mark has to work. We would have stayed here so Mark could have Christmas with Sofia too if it had been possible. If we tell her that Mark managed to get Christmas off… She won't question it. They'll understand that all three of us want to be there for Sofia's first Christmas."

Callie shook her head. She didn't like lying. And she really didn't like lying to Barbara. Barbara was Sofia's only real grandmother. Barbara was kind and sweet and she loved Callie like her own daughter. "I think you should tell your mom the truth, Arizona," Callie sighed.

"_He_ should tell her the truth," Arizona huffed, referring to her father.

"Yes, he should," Callie agreed. "But he's spent the last 25 years _not _telling her, so I don't think the odds of that are very likely."

Arizona stubbornly shook her head.

"You can't keep Sawyer hidden away forever, Arizona," Callie admonished. "It would be different if you just knew about her but the two of you have a relationship. You're friends. You're family. You can't continue to spend time with her and expect your mother never to find out. And the longer you wait to tell her, the worse her reaction is going to be."

"Don't you think I know that?" Arizona snapped. "Finding out about this will devastate her. I want to tell her, I do. But I just can't hurt her like that. I… I'm not ready. She hasn't known for 25 years, a few more months isn't going to make a difference."

"It's not the amount of time she _didn't_ know that'll upset her. It'll be the amount of time that you _did_."

"I know, Callie, I just…"

"Can't," Callie finished for her. She sighed.

"I'm sorry," Arizona said softly.

"I know you are," Callie replied sadly. She pulled Arizona towards her. "So what do you want to do for Christmas? I don't care where we are as long as I'm with you and Sofia. I promised my dad we would Skype with him, but we can do that anywhere, so it's up to you."

Arizona let her head rest against Callie's chest for a minute before she answered. "I don't want her to be alone on Christmas. Mom won't be alone."

"Okay," Callie nodded. "I'll change the flight. But you'll have to call them and tell them tomorrow."

Arizona buried her face against Callie's shoulder. "Can't I just send them an e-mail?" she asked, her voice muffled.

"No," Callie replied strictly. "Your mom is going to be really disappointed. You disappoint over the phone. Not in an e-mail."

"_You disappoint over the phone_?" Arizona repeated. "Whose rule is that?

"Ummm… Good manners?" Callie replied. "This is essentially a break-up. You are breaking up with having Christmas at your mom's. You never break-up over e-mail."

Arizona looked sheepish.

"You broke up with someone in an e-mail?" Callie asked, astonished.

"She was _so_ clingy," Arizona tried to explain. "And I knew she was gonna cry and get all emotional and I just really didn't want to deal with that."

"Oh my god, you are heartless!" Callie exclaimed.

"No I'm not," Arizona pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

Callie rolled them over so that she was now lying on top of Arizona, and pressed her ear to the blonde's chest.

"I was right. Nothing," Callie stated as she pretended to listen for a heartbeat.

Arizona giggled. "Maybe you just can't hear it through my shirt?"

A sly smile slid over Callie's face. "You're probably right," she grinned, and pulled the t-shirt over Arizona's head before replacing her ear against her chest. "There it is," the brunette smiled softly. "Beating away, just for me."

"Only for you," Arizona replied as Callie began placing open-mouthed kisses on her wife's bare chest. Arizona relaxed into the feeling of Callie. She pushed tomorrow's phone call out of her mind and thought of nothing but her wife.

**XXXXXXXX**

In typical Arizona fashion, the blonde delayed placing the phone call to her parents until well after dinner the next day. It wasn't until Callie threatened to withhold sex until the call was placed that Arizona very reluctantly dialled her parent's number.

"Hello, Robbins residence,"

"Hi, Mom," Arizona greeted, trying very hard not to give away the fact that she was calling with bad news.

"Arizona! Hello sweetheart, I was just thinking about you. I made those chocolate squares you like today. The ones with the marshmallows, for Christmas."

Arizona bit her lip guiltily.

"Hold on, let me get your father to grab the other handset. We weren't expecting your call until Thursday," Barbara chirped.

"Yeah, I needed to talk to you guys about something," Arizona explained.

"Daniel," Barbara called. "Could you pick up the phone please? It's Arizona. She needs to talk to us."

"Yes, Arizona?" came the tense reply when Daniel picked up the phone.

This wasn't her father's usual greeting for her usual Thursday call. There was an edge of warning and trepidation in his voice. It dawned on Arizona that her calling out of the blue and needing to discuss something had her father worried. He thought she would out his secret. On the phone. Arizona might be willing to break up with someone via e-mail, but when the time came that she had to break her mother's heart, she was damn sure going to be there in person to hug her when she cried. She felt anger for her father bubble in the pit of her stomach.

"Callie and I, we aren't going to be able to come to Boston for Christmas."

"Oh no! Why not?" Barbara asked, the disappointment clear in her voice.

"Mark was able to get the 25th off from work, and he really wants to be there for Sofia's first Christmas. And, really, he should be there. He's her dad and he doesn't want to miss anything. He wants to be there for her, like a good dad should."

"Yes, Arizona, we understand," Daniel replied quickly to Arizona's passive aggressive comment.

"Yes, of course Mark should get Christmas with Sofia," Barbara sighed. "But we were so looking forward to seeing you girls."

"We can still come visit, Mom," Arizona added quickly. "Callie already switched the flight to the 27th and we can stay for a few days if you still want us, we just can't be there on Christmas day."

"Of course we still want you!" Barbara exclaimed. "We'll just have our Christmas a little later this year. Oh thank goodness. I'm so glad we still get to see you girls."

"I'm glad we get to see you too, Mom," Arizona replied pointedly.

"Barbara, could you give me a minute with Arizona?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, what are you two up to?" Barbara joked.

"Now, now, don't ask questions like that at Christmas," the Colonel replied. "We're entitled to a few secrets at Christmastime."

Arizona wanted to punch him. Physically hit her father.

"Okay. I'm so glad you're still coming dear. I can't wait to see you. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom," Arizona replied as her mother hung up her line.

"Arizona," Daniel started.

"Yes," Arizona replied with a boldness she did not know she possessed.

"Arizona, if you have something to say to me, you say it to _me_. I don't appreciate you taunting me in front of your mother like that."

"Taunting?" Arizona replied incredulously. "Who's taunting Dad? Everything I said is true. Mark _is_ a good father."

"Don't you dare say that I'm not a good father," the Colonel hissed with a venom Arizona wasn't sure she'd ever heard before. "I have loved you, cherished you, supported you, and protected you your entire life."

"Yeah, you're great to your _legitimate_ children," Arizona fired back.

"Arizona - " the Colonel started, but the blonde cut him off. She could feel the dreaded tears of authority starting to surface and she wanted to get this out before she sounded like a sad, crying mess.

"No. No. Don't Arizona me. You were my hero. You were the perfect dad. You ruined that. Now, all I see you as is a lying, philandering, dead-beat dad who refused to help his basically orphaned child when she needed him. Who wouldn't help her achieve her dream of becoming a doctor after everything she's been through. Losing her mother and an abusive childhood." Arizona's voice broke and she fought to keep the tears at bay.

"What?" Daniel whispered.

"You heard me," Arizona replied, but some of her earlier bravado was gone.

"Abusive childhood? No. Alicia would never…"

"_Alicia_," Arizona spoke the name of her father's mistress with dripping contempt. "Apparently turned to dating abusive alcoholics after being abandoned by the dutiful Marine."

"How… how do you know this?" the Colonel asked, some of the strength returning to his voice.

"Sawyer told me," Arizona replied, the tears silently breaking free at this confession.

"You're still in contact with her?" Daniel practically shouted.

"Pretty much every day," Arizona replied.

"Arizona that is highly inappropriate!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Your affair is highly inappropriate!" the blonde yelled back. "If I want to have a relationship with my sister you can't stop me."

"She's not your - "

"Yes she is," Arizona snapped, cutting Daniel off before he could say _sister_. "She has no other family. Don't you dare try to tell me that I'm not her sister."

"Mark didn't get Christmas off, did he?"

"No. He didn't. I didn't want Sawyer to have to spend Christmas alone, but it's not like she can just come to Boston, so because of you, I'm lying to my mother. And I hate that you're making me lie to her."

"I hate that too Arizona," Daniel replied sadly and Arizona was taken aback, not expecting such an answer. "I'll see you on the 27th," he stated abruptly and ended the call.

Arizona stared at the phone for a moment, angry, frustrated and confused before she threw the device away in aggravation and went to find Callie. Her wife had said no sex before she spoke to her parents. Now she had called them, and by Arizona's logic that meant that she better be getting lucky tonight.

**XXXXXXXX**

The next day, Arizona didn't run into Sawyer, but she did receive a few text messages from the younger woman. Somewhere around the time that the awkwardness in their relationship had dissipated, Sawyer had developed a habit of texting Arizona with random thoughts that popped into her head. Little tidbits along the lines of _You know, you should never make eye contact with someone while eating a banana_ or _Is there a nice way to tell someone they have bad breath? The best I can come up with is "I'm bored. Let's go brush our teeth."_ Sawyer never expected a reply, and they never failed to bring a smile to Arizona's face.

So when Sawyer sent Arizona a message saying; _If Hooters ever expands their business to include take-out and delivery, they should probably change their name to Knockers,_ Arizona replied for a change.

_**Thank you for that - AZ**_

_I try to be helpful._

_**Callie and I had to change our Christmas plans. We're not going to Boston 'til the 27**__**th**__** now. So if you want, you should come over on Christmas.**_

_Really? I'd love to. Thanks. Why'd you have to change your plans?_

_**Just wasn't working for the 25**__**th**__**. 27**__**th**__** works much better.**_

_Well, I'm not complaining. This is awesome._

_**You have to bring brownies though.**_

_Haha. Deal._

**XXXXXXXX**

Christmas day rolled around and Sawyer showed up a little after noon, brownies and presents in hand. Callie and Arizona had told her to show up whenever, but the younger woman had waited until later in the day so that the couple could have Christmas morning with Sofia to themselves. When she knocked on the door, Arizona shouted, "It's open," and Sawyer let herself in, as Arizona was preoccupied with Sofia, playing with her new toys while Callie was sitting at the breakfast bar, chatting with her father on Skype. Sawyer walked past Callie, nodding a quick hello, and plopped herself down beside Sofia.

"¿Has cambiado a Arizona por un modelo más joven?" [_Did you trade Arizona in for a younger model?_] Carlos asked through the screen as Sawyer walked past.

Callie rolled her eyes. "No seas ridículo, Daddy. Esa es - " [_Don't be ridiculous Daddy, that's -_]

But Callie was cut off when another figure popped up on screen.

"Hola, Calliope."

"Hola tío Berto," Callie smiled at her favourite uncle.

"¿Has dicho que Calliope ha cambiado a Arizona por un modelo más joven?" [_Did you say Calliope traded Arizona in for a younger model?_]

"No lo hice!" [_I did not!_] Callie laughed. "Arizona está aquí!" [_Arizona's right here_]

"¿Alguna clase de regalo de Navidad Kinky? Ya sabía yo que Arizona era lo mejor que te podía haber pasado." [_Some kind of kinky Christmas gift? I knew that Arizona was a keeper_]

"Tío Berto!" Callie cried at the same time Carlos shouted,

"Berto!"

"Is he drunk?" Sawyer asked from her spot on the floor, turning her head towards Callie.

"Wait, what?" Callie asked, whipping her head around to look at Sawyer. "You understood that?" she asked, embarrassment flooding through her.

"Yeah," Sawyer nodded. "Probablemente deberías decirle que soy tu cuñada antes de que diga algo realmente espeluznante," [_You should probably tell him that I'm your sister-in-law before he says something really creepy_] she added in rapid Spanish and Callie quickly turned her attention back to the Skype conversation.

"I just heard my name like half a dozen times," Arizona said. "You wanna tell me what they're talking about?" she asked Sawyer.

"Ask Callie," Sawyer replied quickly, blushing a little, and Arizona laughed.

"So, you speak Spanish?" Arizona asked.

"Yeah," Sawyer replied. "I don't know if you remember me telling you about my best friend Gabriella? When my mom was away I basically lived at her house and she lived with her grandmother who really didn't speak any English. So I picked up Spanish pretty quickly."

"That's awesome," Arizona smiled. "Any other secret talents I don't know about?" she joked.

"I speak German too," Sawyer shrugged. "And basic French, it's not as good as my Spanish or my German but I get by. Oh, and I can tie a knot in a cherry stem with my tongue… I think that's it for secret talents though."

"You speak four languages?" Arizona gaped.

Sawyer nodded. "That's how I got my job at the Archfield. That and the dimples. It doesn't matter how angry a businessman is, you flash the dimples and they stop yelling. It's like they're physically incapable of yelling at dimples."

Arizona laughed. "Oh trust me, I know. I use that trick all the time."

Sawyer paused, watching Sofia for a while before saying, "You didn't have to do this you know."

"What?" Arizona asked.

"Change your Christmas plans. I know you changed them for me. I appreciate it. But you didn't have to."

Arizona smiled. "You're my sister. I didn't want you to be alone on Christmas."

Sawyer looked at her seriously for a moment. "That's the first time you've ever called me that," she replied quietly.

"I – I'm sorry," Arizona started. "This whole thing has been really… It's just taken me some time to adjust to."

Sawyer shook her head. "No, don't apologize. I've never called you that either," she said, and reflecting, Arizona realized that Sawyer was right. She couldn't recall Sawyer ever calling her her sister. "This whole thing has been weird for me too," Sawyer continued. "When I was a kid, every time I asked about my dad, my mom would say the same thing. _We don't need him_. That was so ingrained in my brain that I never expected to have any kind of contact with him. And after my mom died… I had almost a year to try and figure out how to finance my fourth year but I didn't contact him until less than 2 months before classes started. I felt like turning to him would be letting her down somehow." She let out a nervous little laugh. "And then you… I never expected you. I was an only child. I had nothing to do with my dad… When I finally contacted you, you were a last resort. I was looking for a solution not a sister, but I got so much more." She smiled. "You changed my life Arizona, I have a family again because of you. I have a sister…"

Sawyer's voice trailed off and neither woman spoke for a moment, not sure how to continue after Sawyer's emotional words. Sofia, who had been sitting quietly between the two of them, as if knowing that what Sawyer was saying had been important, looked between the two blondes before picking up a sock monkey from the floor and pointedly handing it to Sawyer.

"Ah Hmm!" Sofia stated with such an air of finality that both woman broke into laughter.

"Thank you Sofia," Sawyer giggled, brushing the monkey against the baby's nose affectionately. "I just meant," Sawyer continued, "that I'm really glad you're my sister."

"Me too, Sawyer," Arizona smiled. "Me too."

**Woo! So, hope you made it to the end. If you've been reading and never left a review, I'd love if you stopped by, just to say Hi. I like to know you guys are out there. I just made them all happy right? So I've got to have something kinda evil planned for the next chapter ;) Predictions?**

**Anyway, click the blue button if you have time. Your reviews make me extra happy, especially with exams coming up and me starting to stress. They're an awesome way to bring a smile to my face.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, this chapter is a little on the longer side. The last bit, it could have gone in this chapter, or the next chapter. When I had it in the next chapter, this chapter seemed a little short. When I had it in this chapter, it seemed kinda long. But I figured you'd all rather a little long than short so. Happy reading!**

Life rolled along smoothly for Arizona after Christmas. Despite Callie's urging, she had made it through their visit to her parent's house without telling her mother about Sawyer or speaking to her father about the subject. Arizona was sure that her mother had noticed that something was off between herself and her father, but Barbara had been so happy to have Callie, Arizona and Sofia around for Christmas that she hadn't commented.

When the first week of April had arrived, and Easter was on the horizon, Callie had been ready to put her foot down with regards to Arizona telling her mother the truth, when something happened that completely removed all thoughts of Barbara and Sawyer from the Latina's mind. She got a call from her sister.

"Hello?" Callie answered her phone questioningly, not recognizing the number.

"Hey, Cal," the once familiar voice greeted, but now Callie hadn't heard from her sister in over two years.

"Aria?" Callie questioned, not believing her ears.

"Yeah, it's me," came the reply. "I got your number from Dad, I hope that's okay."

"Of course it's okay, it's… why are you calling? Is everything all right? Did something happen?" Callie asked, unable to come up with another reason that her sister would contact her out of the blue.

"Everything's fine," Aria replied. "It's just, I'm going to be in Seattle next week. For a charity function."

"Oh," Callie replied. Aria had chosen to go the socialite route with her life. She'd always enjoyed flaunting their wealth much more than Callie had.

"And yeah, Dad said I should call you, since I was going to be in town. We haven't seen each other in ages."

_We haven't seen each other in ages?_ Callie thought, incredulously. _Yeah, that's because you refused to return my calls when you found out I was dating a woman. You didn't come to my wedding or to meet your niece…_ But Callie didn't voice any of those thoughts, too hopeful for the chance of reconciling and rebuilding her relationship with her sister. Instead, Callie said, "Yeah, it's been too long. We should meet up while you're here."

"I'm flying in on the 12th, but the event isn't until the night of the 13th," Aria started.

"I can pick you up from the airport," Callie responded quickly.

"Okay," Aria replied. "I get in at 5:45. We can have dinner, maybe go out, like we used to?" she hedged, hesitantly.

"That sounds great," Callie smiled.

"Okay, so, I'll e-mail you my flight info," Aria paused, "that's still the same right? Your work e-mail?"

"It's C dot Torres dot MD at SGMW dot com," Callie relayed her work address, not knowing if the e-mail Aria had for her was from before or after the merger.

"Okay, got it," Aria replied. "So I guess I'll see you on Friday."

"See you on Friday," Callie repeated, not really believing the words. As she ended the call, apprehension started to seep in.

By the time Arizona arrived home that evening Callie had worked herself up into a full-fledged panic, and she practically pounced on the blonde when she walked through the door.

"Where were you?" she asked and Arizona could hear a hint of anger in her voice.

The blonde shot her wife a surprised look before replying, "At work," the confusion evident in her voice.

"I thought you were done at five?" Callie spat back.

Arizona quirked an eyebrow at her. Being surgeons, they both knew that a scheduled end of shift was only a rough guideline, but even so, she glanced at her watch. "It's not even quarter to six yet," she replied.

"We live across the street," Callie snapped. "It takes five minutes to get home from work."

Arizona hung up her coat and walked past Callie towards Sofia who was strapped into her bouncy chair. "Are you trying to pick a fight?" she asked as she bent down to smother the baby in kisses.

"No," Callie huffed.

"Were you trouble for your mommy while I was gone?" Arizona playfully asked Sofia, who giggled. "Did you put her in this _wonderful_ mood?"

Callie let out a defeated sigh and slumped against the kitchen counter. "Aria's coming to visit."

Arizona's face flashed with surprise at this news. "Your sister's coming to visit?" she repeated.

"On Friday," Callie nodded.

"In four days?" Arizona asked. "Seriously? What brought that on?"

"She's in Seattle for some kind of charity something-or-other. My dad suggested that she and I meet up. I think it bothers him that we don't talk anymore."

Arizona nodded. "That makes sense. You two used to be close."

"I know. Until she cut me out of her life when I…"

"Started dating women," Arizona finished for her.

"I don't get it," Callie continued. "It's so random and out of the blue. I'm sure Daddy's been trying to get her to make up with me for ages. Why now?"

"Maybe she misses you?" Arizona offered.

Callie sighed again. "I do miss her sometimes."

Arizona smiled. "So this'll be good. What're you planning? How long is she in Seattle for?" she asked, leaving Sofia and coming to stand in front of Callie, finally greeting her with a kiss.

"She flies in around this time on Friday, and her thing is on Saturday, but god knows it'll take her all day to get ready for that so she'll probably only be around Friday night. She wants to have dinner and go out like we used to… You have Friday night off right?" Callie added quickly, panic edging her voice again as she ran her hands up and down Arizona's arms.

"I do," Arizona smiled. "You want me to be there?" she asked a little hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Callie asked. "Of course I want you to be there. I need you to be there."

"Okay," Arizona nodded. "I just thought you might like to spend some time… just the two of you… to catch up or whatever."

Callie saw through Arizona's words effortlessly and fixed the blonde with a harsh stare. "Don't," she stated firmly. "Don't do that." And Arizona looked a little sad. "I know you hate that I don't see most of my family anymore. I hate that too and if they want to mend things I'm all for it. But _we_ are a package you and I. We're a family," she added, gesturing to Sofia over Arizona's shoulder. "They can't have a relationship with me and not you. It's all or nothing."

"I know," Arizona replied softly and placed another kiss on Callie's lips, this one more tender than her greeting kiss. She wished for the thousandth time that there was an easy solution to Callie's estrangement from her family, but knowing there wasn't, she stepped back from Callie with a smile and the resolve to work on the hard solution. If that meant some tense and awkward evenings with Callie's sister, well, bring it on.

"So do you want to make a reservation somewhere?" Arizona asked, moving to get a now fussy Sofia out of her chair.

Callie shook her head. "I thought I'd just cook and then we could go to Joe's."

Arizona was surprised. She'd never actually met Callie's sister but from Callie's stories, home cooking and Joe's bar really didn't seem much like her scene.

Callie seemed to read Arizona's mind as she added, "It's probably not Aria's ideal evening but if she wants to have a relationship again she should see who _we_ are. And staying in and going to Joe's is what we like. She's the one who announced her visit four days in advance after no communication for two years. I'm not catering to her."

"Okay," Arizona agreed, bouncing Sofia on her hip. "Whatever you want."

"Thank you," Callie sighed.

Arizona laughed. "Hey, I'm just glad we're stressing out about _your_ sister for a change."

Callie laughed as well. "Yeah, I guess you're the expert at awkward sister situations now, huh? Any tips for a rookie?" she added playfully.

"Well my buffer was always very helpful," Arizona replied jokingly. "Although I'm not sure I'm going to be able to repay you that favour. I'm probably not the ideal choice for a buffer here."

Callie paused to consider her words. "No, a buffer… you're right," she replied.

"You want me to be your buffer?" Arizona asked. "Okay, I can try, but I'm not sure how awesome that'll work out."

"No, no, not you," Callie clarified. "_We_ need a buffer, someone to make it so that it's not Aria and the two lesbians all night. I think that'll make her uncomfortable because she doesn't really know anyone… like us."

"She knows you," Arizona corrected. "She's got it in her head that your coming out makes you a completely different person, someone she doesn't know. You just need to make her see that you're still Callie, still her sister, just with a wife now."

Callie nodded and Arizona continued. "Still though, bringing along a fourth probably wouldn't hurt. To smooth things over when they do, inevitably get a little awkward."

"Okay," Callie nodded, "so what lucky guest do we want to rope into this magical evening? Mark?"

Arizona laughed. "My parents have trouble wrapping their heads around our little family dynamic. She's going to have a hard enough time with us as a couple. Let's leave Mark until she's a little more prepared."

Callie thought for another moment. "What about Sawyer?"

"Really?" Arizona asked. Her next thought had been to suggest Teddy, or maybe even Cristina.

"Yeah," Callie replied, liking the idea more and more as she thought about it. "My sister, your sister, and Aria doesn't know anything about you so she doesn't have to know that Sawyer is your recently discovered sibling. She can just be a good example of how accepting a sister can be. She's super easy-going so she'll be able to handle it if Aria gets bitchy and she's got that almost creepy super-power for reading people, she's sort of like the perfect buffer."

"Okay," Arizona agreed, following Callie's logic and realizing Sawyer was a good choice. "I'll call her. How much does she know about your relationship with Aria?"

"Pretty much everything," Callie replied. "You remember that night that she came over after finishing her last midterm and we opened a bottle of wine and then you got paged to the hospital?"

Arizona raised an eyebrow at the question. When she'd come home she'd found three empty bottles of wine, Sawyer passed out cold on the couch, and Callie so horny that she'd had to force the Latina into their bedroom when she'd started stripping off her own clothes in the middle of the living room the second Arizona walked through the door.

"Not that part," Callie admonished as Arizona smirked. "_Before_ we got so drunk that we couldn't remember our names, we talked. She tends to pull out that _reading people super power_ when she's drunk. She said she could tell by the way I watched the two of you interact that there was something going on between me and Aria. And I was hammered so I basically told her my life story… Although she was pretty hammered as well so there is the possibility that she won't remember that."

Arizona laughed at Callie's rambling and said, "Well we'll call her and see how much she knows. If you need to, you can bring her up to speed as much, or as little as you like."

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie called Sawyer the next day to invite her to dinner on Friday, and by the younger woman's enthusiastic response, Callie was fairly certain she didn't need to recount any of her history with her sister. It seemed Sawyer had managed to hold onto some memories from their night of sharing.

When Friday rolled around and Callie found herself waiting at the Arrivals gate in Sea-Tac, her nerves, which Arizona had been working tirelessly at to calm, rose back up in full force. Callie knew it was silly to be nervous. This was her sister, at one time they'd been very close and like Arizona kept reminding her, Callie just needed to show Aria that she was still that same person. It should be easy. But deep down, Callie knew that reconciling with Aria could be the first step in swaying her mother and reconnecting with the whole of the Torres clan. She wanted to be cautiously optimistic about that possibility, but instead she just felt the nerves.

When Aria came through the gate, she greeted her with a hug that Callie happily returned and as she grabbed her sister's bag, Aria began complaining about the flight in typical Aria fashion. Callie smiled to herself. It all felt so completely natural as she led her sister to the car. They stopped at the Archfield first so that Aria could drop her stuff off in the room she had for the weekend. As they walked past reception, Callie noted that Sawyer wasn't there, and she smiled, knowing the younger woman must have already left to get ready for their night.

Arriving back at the apartment building, Callie started to feel the nerves again. They were about to leave the bubble that was just Aria and Callie. She was about to introduce Aria to Arizona and she swallowed heavily as she punched the button for the 5th floor in the elevator.

"Uh, it's this one here," Callie said, an awkwardness that hadn't been present before finding its way into her voice as they stopped outside of number 502. But when she pushed the door open and saw her wife baby girl waiting for her she felt herself mellow considerably. "Hey, baby," Callie greeted sweetly, scooping Sofia out of Arizona's arms. "Aria, this is Arizona," she introduced.

Arizona greeted Aria with the dimpled smile that never failed to make Callie melt, and the two women shook hands.

"It's really great to finally meet you," Arizona said warmly.

Aria met her with a tight smile. "You too," she replied.

"And this is Sofia," Callie continued with a smile. "Sofía, esta es tu tía Aria," [_Sofia, this is your Aunt Aria_] she added to the baby.

"Oh, ella es hermosa, Callie," [_Oh, she's beautiful Callie_] Aria cooed over the little girl.

Callie passed Sofia over to Aria and beamed as she watched her sister speak to her daughter in gentle Spanish. Arizona ran a comforting hand up Callie's back and Callie smiled at her as she let herself feel cautiously optimistic.

Half an hour later, a knock sounded at the door and Sawyer bounced into the room. She wasn't usually as perky as Arizona (no one was in Callie's opinion) but when she was in a really good mood she got rather chipper and the similarity between the sisters was uncanny.

"Hey you," Arizona greeted, happy the buffer had arrived. Aria seemed okay to coo at Sofia or talk to Callie, but she had yet to really say anything to Arizona and it was starting to make the blonde a little apprehensive.

"Hey!" Sawyer greeted enthusiastically.

"Wow, someone's peppy," Callie laughed.

"I wrote my last exam yesterday," Sawyer grinned. "Barring any complications, and I'm not predicting any thanks to the _amazing_ Torres study method, I'm gonna be a doctor in less than a week!"

"Sing it," Arizona replied happily and Callie grinned at the pair.

"So, Aria, this is Sawyer," Callie introduced. "Arizona's sister, my sister-in-law. Sawyer this is Aria," she continued, "My sister, Arizona's sister-in-law… so that makes her your sister's sister-in-law," she rambled.

Arizona and Sawyer shot Callie identical looks saying _calm down_ that caused the brunette to chuckle. As she stole Sofia back from Aria she said, "Right, so I just said sister about half a dozen times. I guess I'm just really glad you're here Aria," she smiled. "I'm gonna run Sofia across the hall 'cause it's Mark's weekend and this way we'll be able to go out later and yeah, okay," she rambled, grabbing Sofia's packed bag off of the counter and disappearing into the hall for a minute.

As the door swung shut behind Callie, Arizona heard Aria mumble "Ella no es mi hermana," [_She is not my sister_] under her breath.

Arizona smiled, not understanding the Spanish. She was sure Aria must feel a little uncomfortable with Callie gone from the room, and if the younger woman mumbled to herself in Spanish when she was uncomfortable the same way Callie ranted in Spanish when she was pissed, well, Arizona found the sisterly similarity kind of sweet.

Sawyer on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at Aria. Callie was only gone for around five minutes, but Sawyer said nothing to Aria the entire time she was gone. Arizona was just starting to think she was going to have to pull Sawyer aside and explain what being a buffer entailed when Callie burst back into the apartment.

"Kay, so I made Fricase de Pollo," Callie said as she hurried into the kitchen. "You still like that right, Ari?"

"Uh, yeah," Aria nodded.

"¿Necesita alguna ayuda, Callie?" [_You need any help Callie?_] Sawyer asked while looking pointedly at Aria. She saw a look of surprise cross Aria's features to find that the blonde haired, blue eyed girl spoke perfect Spanish, and her face darkened at the realization that Sawyer was telling her she had understood her earlier remark.

"No, I'm good," Callie answered, not sure why Sawyer had asked her in Spanish. They did speak it, but only when Sofia was around. She glanced up at Sawyer and found her staring at Aria, who was staring right back. Callie wasn't sure if she was imagining things but she thought the exchange looked rather unfriendly.

She looked over at Arizona and the look her wife gave her said that Arizona thought their sister's exchange was odd as well. Choosing to brush it off however, Callie simply said, "Let's eat."

**I know. You all thought we were going to Boston for Christmas. Nope. Gotcha. :)**

**Click that review button if you have a little time, a prediction, a comment, or just if you feel like making me smile. Seriously, to the anonymous reviewer who left a review in the last chapter that just said "Hi". You are awesome. I laughed so hard.**


	14. Chapter 14

**So I had a request quite some time ago to write a chapter from Sawyer's point of view. This chapter is a lot of Sawyer, but there is also some crazy stuff going down so hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint!**

Sawyer spent all of dinner trying to be the bright, bubbly, friendly buffer that Callie and Arizona wanted her to be. She tried to keep the conversation flowing and gently steer them away from any awkward topics. She knew that the idea was for her to seem a somewhat neutral party, someone who was just as much Aria's ally as Callie and Arizona's. She also knew she wasn't doing a great job.

She knew Callie's family had some homophobic tendencies, and while she found the whole concept utterly ridiculous, she'd been prepared to be tolerant that evening. Ready to cut Aria some slack since she'd already made the crucial first step of getting back in touch with her sister. But Aria's rude comment about Arizona not being her sister had set Sawyer on edge. As dinner progressed and Sawyer read Aria's body language, she noted the way Aria turned her body away from Arizona, and the way she slightly tensed when the couple made any reference to their marriage or relationship. Sawyer found herself feeling suspicious of Callie's sister rather than inviting, wondering why she had decided to meet up with the brunette if she still clearly disliked her life choices.

As they sat chatting, Sawyer felt her dislike for the woman across the table from her deepen. Aria was spoiled, sure. Sawyer had dealt with spoiled before. She could handle spoiled on a materialistic level, but it was the way that Aria regarded family that was causing Sawyer's dislike to bubble. As someone who had lived her whole life with a family consisting of essentially one person, her mother, and having lost that and spent some time with absolutely no one, Aria's behaviour sickened Sawyer. Meeting Arizona and foraging that relationship had been emotional and hard work for both women, but it was a relationship Sawyer now cherished. That Aria seemed to care nothing for her own relationship with Callie was something Sawyer would never understand.

When dinner had finished, Arizona and Sawyer began cleaning up while Callie finished listening to Aria's story about how much she disliked her current Audi.

Callie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I feel terrible for you, Aria," she said with a little laugh. "So I thought we could go out for a drink now, if you wanted to?"

"Oh, I'm not really dressed to go out," Aria laughed.

"You're fine for where we're going," Callie assured her. "It's not a club, it's a bar. It's actually the bar where Arizona and I met," she smiled. She glanced at her wife and they grinned, remembering their first encounter there.

"Ah, a gay bar? A lesbian bar?" Aria stuttered, "uh, Callie - "

Callie cut her off with a laugh. "No, not a gay bar. It's just the bar across the street from the hospital so it's a favourite of all the doctors."

"Yeah, sometimes lesbians can meet at regular bars," Sawyer muttered under her breath. It was loud enough that Arizona heard however and she shot Sawyer a look and gave her a swat on the arm.

"You're the buffer," she whispered. "The buffer needs a filter."

"Sorry, sorry," Sawyer whispered back. Arizona shot her another pointed look and Sawyer added. "Best buffer ever, right here, you'll see."

"Thank you," Arizona smiled, playfully bumping her hip against Sawyer's.

Callie watched the whispered exchange from the table, and vaguely thought how absurd it was that the sisters who had only know each other for 9 months were more comfortable with each other than she and the sister she grew up with.

"So, everybody ready to go?" Callie asked, rising.

The group grabbed coats and bags and made the short trek to Joe's bar. They found a table near the door. They'd been sitting, chatting and drinking amicably for a while when Aria rose and said, "I'm gonna get another."

"I'd like another too!" Callie called after her, but it seemed Aria didn't hear as she'd pulled her cell phone up to her ear the moment she turned her back on the table.

Sawyer laughed, "I'll get it Cal, I want another too. Arizona?" she asked, turning to the blonde.

Arizona shook her head, "Nope, I'm okay for now."

Sawyer nodded and made her way to the bar after Aria, slipping onto a stool beside Cristina Yang and holding up two fingers for Joe at the other end of the bar. The burly man nodded, and Sawyer settled in to wait for her drinks. She shot a smile at Cristina. She'd met the resident twice before, both times at Joe's and found her snark rather amusing. She was just about to strike up a conversation with the woman when she heard Aria's voice behind her.

"Oh my god she's so annoying. All fake smiles and giggles and she calls her _Calliope_. She keeps trying to talk to me and I'm like oh my god you're supposed to be _married_ to my sister. I don't want to sleep with you, that's gross."

"Hey," Sawyer snapped, causing Aria to turn around.

"Uh, yeah I gotta go," Aria ended the call and looked at Sawyer. "What?"

"She might not be your sister," Sawyer stated pointedly. "But she is mine, so watch it." There was so much more she'd like to say to Aria, but she knew she was supposed to be the buffer so she bit her tongue.

"Whatever, I'm cutting out of here in like an hour and then I never have to see her again," Aria replied flippantly.

"What is with you?" Sawyer asked frustratedly. "Why even bother to visit? You clearly don't want to be around them,"

Aria hesitated. She seemed to be considering telling a lie before she shrugged and went with the truth. "I hate my car. Daddy wouldn't get me a new one unless I saw Callie while I'm in Seattle."

The anger bubbled deeper as Sawyer replied. "No. No, you don't get to play with Callie like that. She thinks you're rebuilding your relationship. You don't get to just show up here, get her hopes up and then never see her again."

"You don't know anything about Callie," Aria snapped back. "She's my sister."

"She's my sister-in-law," Sawyer countered.

"Don't call her that," Aria spat. "She's not your sister-in-law. They're not married."

"Yes they are," Sawyer retorted strongly, her voice rising a little.

"No they're not," Aria replied, just as strongly. "What they are doing is disgusting. It's wrong. It's a sin. They are not married; a marriage is between a man and a woman. They're not anything but two women who live together and have sex."

Sawyer shook her head. "Oh, yeah," she replied dangerously. "Get it all out now Aria, because when we get back to that table you are not going to breathe a word of this. Those women love each other, whether you like it or not. They are married. And for the next hour, you are going to respect that."

"Respect that?" Aria replied incredulously. "How can I respect what they're doing to that poor little girl?"

Sawyer tensed at the mention of Sofia and ground out, "Watch it."

"If Callie cared about her daughter at all she'd have done the right thing and married the dad, Matt or Mark or whatever."

Sawyer laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah, that's a great example to set for your child. Raise her around two people who are just playing house rather than showing her what two people who really love each other looks like."

"Better than making her a freak for the rest of her life," Aria retorted. "And they're the ones playing house. Arizona calling the baby hers - "

"Sofia _is_ Arizona's daughter," Sawyer cut in sharply.

"She's not," Aria scoffed. "I mean, if Callie wanted to be that selfish and be with Arizona, she should have at least been good enough not to make any children suffer for her choices. When she got pregnant she should have just taken care of it."

BAM

It was like Sawyer had momentarily lost control of her body. She'd felt the anger deepening as Aria rambled on until she lost herself in it. In the anger. And she didn't come to until she felt Aria's nose crushing beneath her closed fist. As she drew her hand away, it was hard to tell who looked more shocked, Aria or Sawyer.

As someone who had been beaten more times than she cared to remember, Sawyer was not a violent person. She knew what it felt like to be hit and she had never had any desire to make another person experience that. But she'd also never been quite as angry at another human being before. The first straw had been Aria's decision to insult Callie and Arizona and their marriage. As far as Sawyer was concerned, anyone who insinuated that the couple were anything less than saintly was a complete idiot. The next straw had been to mention Sofia in even a remotely negative context, to suggest that she wasn't the luckiest, most adored little baby in the whole world. But what really made Sawyer snap, was the idea that Sofia should never have been born. Hearing the phrasing _take care of it_, the exact words used in the letter from her father to her mother, had been the tipping point for Sawyer.

Callie and Arizona had been sitting at the table, waiting for their sisters to return with drinks. They had just started to notice that it was taking longer than necessary when a dull smack sounded throughout the bar, followed by the stunned silence that falls on a room when someone hits another person.

Callie and Arizona whipped around in horror, and watched as Sawyer drew back her fist while Aria staggered backwards, blood dripping down her face. The couple was up and out of their seats in a heartbeat. Callie ran to Aria and gently ushered her into the bathroom while Arizona grabbed Sawyer by the arm and dragged her outside.

As the door to the bathroom swung shut behind them Aria gasped, "That _bitch_. She broke my nose!"

"Aria, let me see," Callie pleaded desperately, removing her sister's hands from her face. Touching Aria's nose gingerly, the younger woman hissed at the contact. "It's not broken," Callie said gently, balling up some paper towel to stop the bleeding. "But it's gonna hurt like crazy tomorrow, and it's gonna bruise. And you're gonna have two black eyes. Ice and ibuprofen - "

Aria's shriek broke her out of doctor mode. "Two black eyes!" she screamed. "I have an event tomorrow!"

"You can still go," Callie tried to sound reassuring. "It won't be too swollen as long as you ice it and take the ibuprofen and don't touch it much."

"I'll have a swollen nose and two black eyes!" Aria bellowed. "What the hell is wrong with you people? God dammit, I am leaving!" she stormed passed Callie and out of the bathroom.

"No, Aria, wait," Callie called desperately, running after her sister.

**XXXXXXXX**

"What the hell? What the hell was that? What is wrong with you?" Arizona bellowed. She released her sister's arm with a bit of a push and Sawyer stumbled backwards.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened," Sawyer pleaded.

"You don't know what happened? You punched Callie's sister in the face, _that_ is what happened! What the hell, Sawyer, you knew, you _knew_ how important this was to Callie."

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry, Arizona."

"You were supposed to be the buffer, you were supposed to make it better," Arizona whined defeatedly, dropping her head in her hands. "Sawyer, why in god's name would you do that?"

"I - " Sawyer started before her voice faltered. Her brain was screaming at her to explain, to tell Arizona every nasty thing Aria had said, how she hadn't actually ruined Callie's chances at reconciliation with her family. But her heart broke at the thought of repeating any of Aria's words to her sister. "I'm sorry," she tried again.

"Stop saying that," Arizona snapped. "I know you're sorry. I want to know why you hit her."

Sawyer bit her lip and shook her head. She was trying to find the right words, trying to figure out how to tell Arizona that there had never been any hope. But Arizona's anger made her impatient.

"Oh, what, you're not gonna tell me?" Arizona snapped.

"Arizona, please - " Sawyer started, but she was cut off when the door burst open and Aria stormed outside followed closely by a tearful Callie.

"NO, CALLIE!" Aria screamed. "Just leave me alone. This was a mistake, obviously. Coming here was a mistake. Just stay away from me. Leave me alone. All of you," she added with a vindictive shot at Arizona and Sawyer.

Callie stood frozen as she watched Aria storm away. The tears fell hot and fast down her cheeks and she let out a broken sob as her chin dropped to her chest and the dream she'd been flirting with all evening, of finally getting back together with her family was violently pulled out from under her.

"Callie," Arizona said softly, hurrying to stand in front of her wife and wrapping her in a hug. Callie let her head rest on Arizona's shoulder and she shook her head as another sob escaped her lips.

"Callie, I - " Sawyer started, trying to find the words to somehow make this better. To explain what had happened without crushing the fragile Latina even more.

At Sawyer's words, Arizona whipped around, Callie still held tightly in her arms and a look of fierce protectiveness on her face. "No," she cut Sawyer off strongly. "No, you've done enough tonight, Sawyer."

Sawyer looked like she'd been slapped. Arizona's tone caused her to stumble backwards a little bit.

"Just, go," Arizona continued. "Now."

Sawyer looked like she was going to cry, but she simply nodded and whispered, "Okay," before she slunk off in the direction of her apartment building.

"Callie," Arizona murmured when Sawyer had rounded the corner. She gently kissed her wife's temple and whispered, "Let's go home."

Callie simply nodded, and without moving to extract herself from Arizona's embrace, she allowed the blonde to gently guide her home.

**So one of the hardest things I've had to write for this story was Aria's homophobic argument. I really had no idea what to put in there. It came time to write it and I was like… wait, **_**why**_** are people against gay relationships? For those of you who don't know, I'm straight, so I've never had to deal with ignorant people insulting me. And I've also been fortunate enough to never witness it happening to another person. So I literally read an article entitled "What Fuels Homophobia" online, and then I re-watched some **_**1 Girl 5 Gays**_** clips on YouTube. And if you've never seen **_**1 Girl 5 Gays**_** I highly recommend it. It is the only reality/MTV show I enjoy.**

**Anyways. I know this chapter was all Sawyer and Aria, but I hope you can excuse me for that. I promise some extra special C/A moments in the next chapter!**

**Leave me a review if you have the time. They make me super duper happy. Cheers guys!**


	15. Chapter 15

Arizona gently guided Callie through the door to their apartment, kicking it shut behind her. Callie had been silent then entire, albeit short, walk home aside from the odd shuddering gasp as she continued to cry.

As the door clicked shut behind them, Callie remained stock still, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her chin dropped down to her chest. She looked so sad and broken that it broke Arizona's heart. The blonde unzipped Callie's jacket and pushed it off her shoulders before removing her own coat and hanging them up. She kissed the tear track on Callie's cheek before taking hold of her hands and guiding her wife backwards, through their bedroom and into the bathroom.

Arizona pulled Callie's t-shirt over her head and this action seemed to rouse the brunette a little. Callie reached back and undid her own bra and removed the rest of her clothing before stepping into the shower, followed closely by Arizona.

Callie adjusted the water to a temperature hotter than Arizona liked, but the blonde understood Callie's need to feel the heat on her skin and so she ignored her own discomfort, grabbing the bottle of shampoo so she could wash Callie's hair. She'd always found that soothing.

Callie let her forehead rest against Arizona's shoulder as she felt her wife's fingers massaging her scalp. Part of her felt like she was being pathetic. She was not this girl; she didn't fall apart like this when things didn't work out. Her brain tried to tell her to pull herself together but she just couldn't. Watching Aria storm away, Callie saw any chance of getting back together with her family going with her. And that was devastating. She'd spent all week trying not to get her hopes up, but she'd failed. Her hopes had been high, and climbing all evening. They'd come crashing down around her and it just hurt so much.

Her hair shampooed and conditioned, Callie was content to simply close her eyes and stand under the surge of hot water. She didn't know how long she'd been standing there when she felt a gentle hand caress her cheek. Callie's eyes flashed open and she saw Arizona looking back at her with nothing but love and devotion in her eyes. Callie had been hogging most of the shower stream and she realized Arizona must be cold. She could see goose bumps on the blonde's arms but Arizona was ignoring them, too concerned with Callie to care about a little chill. Callie grabbed Arizona's bicep and pulled her forward to stand under the water and captured her lips in a searing kiss. Arizona kissed her back just as passionately, and ran her thumbs over Callie's cheeks, wiping at the tear tracks the water had long ago washed away. When the need for air finally forced them apart, Callie rested her forehead against Arizona's and whispered, "You're all I need."

She put her hand behind Arizona's head and pulled her in for another kiss. Where the last kiss held nothing but passion and love, this kiss was more insistent. "I love you," Callie breathed, punctuating the statement with a quick kiss. "I need you."

Arizona gave her a soft smile. "I love you too," she whispered. "And I'm never going anywhere." She reclaimed Callie's lips with her own and they stayed that way, kissing in the shower until the hot water ran out.

They towelled off, pulled on some pyjamas and climbed into bed. It wasn't that late, but Callie felt exhausted. She snuggled into Arizona's chest as the blonde wrapped an arm around her, placing a kiss in her hair before the fingers of her free hand began running through Callie's still damp locks.

"I'm so sorry, Callie," Arizona said gently, breaking the silence they'd been sitting in.

"What happened?" Callie sighed. "I thought things were going so well. I mean, I know Aria can be a brat sometimes but… I really thought things were going okay. What the hell happened at the bar?"

"I don't know," Arizona replied shaking her head. "Sawyer wouldn't tell me."

"What do you mean she wouldn't tell you?" Callie asked, clearly annoyed.

"I asked and she just… froze," Arizona replied, remembering Sawyer's behaviour and flinching a little at her own impatience. Callie let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry, Cal," Arizona repeated.

"It's not your fault," Callie shook her head. "I'm the one who suggested she come as the buffer."

"Yeah, but I could tell she didn't like Aria as soon as she met her. And she made this little snipe before we went out for drinks."

Callie shook her head again. "No, I could tell they didn't like each other too. I just didn't think anything like this would happen. I don't get it. I thought she'd be the perfect buffer."

"I did too," Arizona sighed.

They shifted down in the bed so that they were both lying down rather than resting against the headboard. When Arizona's hand stilled in Callie's hair the brunette shifted and found that her wife had fallen asleep. Callie snuggled closer to Arizona and tried to let herself drift off, but her brain wouldn't shut down. She was so confused. Not only did she think that Sawyer should have been a good buffer but the idea of Sawyer punching someone just seemed absurd to Callie. She didn't think she'd ever even seen Sawyer get mad before. The only time she'd ever even heard the younger woman raise her voice was when she was watching football and the ref made a bad call. Callie lay in Arizona's arms for a long time trying to puzzle out the bizarre turn the night had taken before she finally fell into a restless sleep.

The couple was up, drinking coffee and eating cereal when Mark and Sofia came over for breakfast.

"Good morning, Mommies!" Mark greeted happily. "How'd it go last night?"

"Give me my baby," Callie replied dryly, reaching for Sofia.

"Ma!" the little girl cried happily as Callie hugged her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Mark took in Callie's behaviour and turned to Arizona. "Didn't go well?" he asked.

"Sawyer punched Aria in the face," Arizona replied as she passed Mark a cup of coffee.

Mark laughed. Then he took in Arizona's expression and his attitude sobered. "Wait, are you serious?" Arizona nodded. "She punched her in the face?" Mark repeated in disbelief.

"At Joe's," Arizona stated matter-of-factly.

"What the hell happened?" Mark asked, taking a seat.

"No idea," Arizona replied, sitting beside him. Callie sat with the baby on her lap on beside Arizona. "They went up to the bar to get more drinks and then Sawyer punched her."

"Well what did Sawyer say happened?" Mark asked, still very confused.

"Sawyer didn't say anything," Arizona sighed.

Mark looked between the two women. "That makes no sense. I know I haven't spent as much time with Sawyer as you two, but I've never seen her even remotely overreact to something. I mean, remember that time we were in the park and that jackass cyclist ran into her and ripped her coat and she fell in a puddle? She just brushed it off. She actually punched her?"

"Gave her a bloody nose," Callie replied as Mark voiced all of the confusion Callie had struggled with the night before.

"I'm guessing your sister didn't take that too well," Mark sighed.

"No," Callie replied simply, ducking her face behind Sofia's head to kiss her little shoulder.

"I'm sorry Cal," Mark sighed. "I know how much you wanted this to work out."

**XXXXXXXX**

A week went by. Callie had called Aria twice, but both calls went straight to voicemail, and both voicemails went unanswered. Callie didn't need a bigger hint than that, and so she gave up calling.

Arizona on the other hand, refused to call Sawyer. Sawyer hadn't gotten in touch with them, but Callie hadn't expected her to. Arizona had told her to go, and Callie knew Sawyer wasn't the type to press herself upon people. She'd let them be mad at her for as long as they needed. She wouldn't show up until _they_ wanted to talk. And Callie wanted to talk. She was still confused and she wanted answers from Sawyer. She thought that if Sawyer could explain what had happened she might stand a chance at smoothing things over with Aria. But she'd underestimated how pissed at her sister Arizona was.

"You don't want to find out what happened?" Callie asked, a few days after the incident.

"What could she possibly say, Callie, that would make it better? That would make this okay?" Arizona replied.

"I don't know, but I wasn't answers," Callie said frustratedly.

Arizona sighed. "I know, and I want you to have your answers. I'm just so angry with her."

Callie softened. She knew there was a lot going on for the blonde. Arizona had always harboured a very misplaced guilt about the fact that Callie was estranged from her mother and sister, blaming herself. It also bothered her that two people who should hold a very important place in her life essentially hated her. Callie thought it stemmed from the constant moving as a child, but Arizona had a deep seeded need for people to like her, and that her mother and sister-in-law did not definitely upset her on some level. On top of all that, this was Arizona's first ever fight with her sister, so if she needed a little time to process, Callie could give her that. Arizona was entitled to her feelings.

A week after Aria's visit Callie found herself sitting in the waiting room at the dentist's. Which was really unfortunate timing because the dentist's office always made Callie think of Aria. While Callie had always wanted to be a doctor, Aria had spent a large part of her childhood claiming she wanted to be a dentist. The idea had stemmed from a Play-Doh dentist toy that Aria adored and never let Callie touch. Their dad had been thrilled at the prospect of both of his daughters becoming doctors and had encouraged the idea greatly, to the point that Aria had more dentist toys than was probably healthy. When Aria got older however, and became a little more enamoured with her own image and the family's wealth, the idea of sticking her hand in someone's mouth repulsed her, let alone dealing with bad teeth or bad breath. But the dentist's office still never failed to make Callie remember she and Aria, dressed up in their little lab coats, ushering their parents through their joined medical office, Callie giving them a check-up with Aria examined their teeth.

"Callie Torres," the dental hygienist called, and Callie closed her magazine, following the woman into one of the exam rooms. She'd just settled in the chair when her dentist walked in and her pager sounded from her coat.

"Sorry," Callie said, retrieving the beeping item. "Oh, crap," she breathed, reading the page. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she said, replacing her jacket. "911, apparently there was a 14 vehicle pile up on the freeway."

Her dentist let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I guess you gotta go. I'll have Jamie call you to reschedule your appointment?"

"Thanks," Callie agreed, hurrying from the room.

She drove straight to the hospital and pulled into the attending's parking lot. As she parked the car she reflected on how absurd it was that both she and Arizona had designated parking spaces in this lot. Come to think of it, Mark had one too. Shaking her head at the stupid bureaucracy of the hospital, she hurried inside.

It was 10pm before Callie found herself trudging back towards her car, and she sighed at the loss of what should have been her day off. Arizona was still in surgery and would be for a while. Mark had been almost finished but Callie was just too tired to wait for him.

She pulled out her keys, hit the unlock button, and watched as the lights on her car flashed from across the lot. As she made her way towards the vehicle, she was vaguely aware of another body approaching her car from the other direction. She'd reached the hood of the car when the man came around to stand beside the driver's door and she realized he was wearing a Richard Nixon mask. The cheap plastic kind that just had I little white elastic stapled into each side. She was about to laugh when she saw the gun.

Callie took a step back, ready to run.

"Don't," the man warned, pointing the gun at her.

Callie froze. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice shaking. _Stay calm_ her brain urged. _Just like with Gary Clark. You stay calm."_

"Give me the keys," the man stated firmly.

Callie tossed him the keys without a word. As he reached out and caught them, the little string holding his mask on snapped, and it slipped from his face.

Time seemed to slow down as the mask fell to the ground and Callie saw the man's face and the dark purple birthmark on his left cheek. It seemed to get even slower as the realization that Callie had seen his face dawned on the man and he slowly looked down at his gun.

Callie closed her eyes as she heard the gun fire and she felt a sudden pain explode in her side before she fell to the ground, hard and fast. As she lay on the ground, she was vaguely aware of the sound of tires squalling as her car roared away.

**So. That's right. I just shot Callie. Because the day that you guys figure out where I'm going with this story…. Aha. Who am I kidding. That day will never come ;) **

**My gut says you guys might have some feelings about this chapter. Let me hear it! Your comments make me smile!**


	16. Chapter 16

**So I got a great response to the last chapter :) There was a lot of confusion and some general annoyance that Arizona and Callie hadn't heard Sawyer's version of the events at the bar. I know. We generally like for things to be dealt with in a linear fashion. Fix the relationship before you shoot someone. But there is a method to my madness and always has been. You'll have to trust me. By the end of this tale there will be no loose threads…**

**Also, just a little disclaimer here: I have absolutely no medical knowledge. Everything I know I learned from Grey's Anatomy. So if I have written something here that is medically wrong or inconsistent, I apologize. Hopefully it won't affect your reading of the story too much. **

Two days after she had punched Aria in the face, Sawyer got the email confirming that she had passed all of her exams. She was officially a doctor. Dr. Sawyer Logan. And she had no one to tell.

When her mom died, Sawyer told herself that she didn't need anyone. That she'd be fine on her own. Then she'd met Arizona and Callie and she realized how wrong she'd been. After being alone for so long, she truly appreciated how nice it was, knowing that someone cared about you. That someone would miss you if you disappeared. She wasn't willing to give that up.

She knew this was just a fight. She'd explain what had happened and eventually things would go back to normal. She knew that they had a right to be pissed. Even she couldn't believe that she'd actually punched another person. The fact actually made her feel a little sick. Sure, Aria had been asking for it. Deserved it even. But Sawyer had been struck in anger so many times as a child that the fact that she was capable of the same thing greatly disturbed her. So she'd wait and give them time to be mad. Let them punish her with silence. She deserved it.

The day after the email arrived she'd picked up her graduation information package, full of papers explaining when and where she needed to be, forms to order her cap and gown, pages she needed to fill out for her medical license, and the four designated graduation invitations that each student was allotted.

Sawyer only needed two. There were only two people who would possibly want to see her graduate from medical school: the two women who had financed her final year and made her dream possible. But they weren't speaking to her. So far the only people she had told that she was graduating and had become a doctor was Harrison her roommate, and Grant and Jen from work. They were all happy for her, but they weren't whom she wanted to be sharing the news with.

A week went by and Sawyer couldn't take it. She'd spent the entire day hoping that they would finally call. She wasn't sure why, but she'd felt sure that today would be the day. It was late now, but she couldn't stand it anymore. She grabbed the two invitations that were sitting on her desk (she'd thrown the other two away) and headed out. She'd just knock on the door, tell them how sorry she was, give them the invitations and leave. Unless of course they asked her to stay and to explain.

Sawyer decided to walk. It wasn't that far, and she needed the extra time to build up her courage. As she walked to their apartment, Sawyer tried rehearsing in her head what she would say when they opened the door. But everything sounded forced and pathetic to her so she eventually gave up, hoping the words would come when they were face to face.

Cutting through the hospital parking lot, Sawyer looked up, and was surprised to see Callie, keys in hand, walking towards her car. Why Callie had driven to work was beyond Sawyer, but she was suddenly grateful for her luck. She was fairly certain that Arizona would be the angrier of the two, and if she could speak to Callie alone she might have a chance. Hurrying to catch up with the woman, Sawyer noticed a dark figure also making his way towards Callie. Reading his body language set off an alarm for Sawyer, there was something both nervous and predatory in his gait. And then she saw the gun.

She almost shouted but she didn't want to spook the man, so she crouched lower and sped up even more. She had ducked behind the car beside Callie's when she saw the assailant's mask fall from his face and she'd known what was going to happen before it did. Sawyer's legs moved faster than they ever had in her life and she tackled Callie out of the path of the gun. As her shoulder connected with Callie's side she felt a white hot pain ripe through her chest before her world was swallowed up in darkness.

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie groaned as she lay on the ground. Some guy had stolen her car and shot her. Beautiful. But after another second she realized that wasn't true. She'd heard the gun go off, she was on the ground and her ribs felt like she'd been hit by a linebacker. But that definitely wasn't what it felt like to be shot. Pushing herself up on her elbows, she became aware of a dead weight across her legs. Looking down she saw a mop of blonde hair in a white coat lying motionless across her body.

Her first thought was Arizona. _NO!_ her brain screamed as she scrambled forward and grabbed the body by the shoulders, flipping it over. As soon as the body turned over Callie realized it wasn't her wife. The relief that washed through her lasted only a second though as she realized the lifeless form in her arms was Sawyer.

_No! _her brain screamed again. _Where the hell did she come from?_ Callie laid Sawyer on the ground. "No, Sawyer, no," she pleaded as a bright red stain plumed across Sawyer's chest.

Sawyer's eyes flew open and she drew in a gasping breath.

"Oh, god, Sawyer," Callie cried, as the relief that the younger woman was still alive hit her. Callie straddled Sawyer's hips to press her hands into the wound to stop the bleeding. She could feel blood pouring out over her fingers and she leaned down to add more pressure.

"C-Callie," Sawyer gasped.

"I'm right here Sawyer, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay," she babbled frantically.

"Callie… I'm sorry," Sawyer managed to gasp out.

"I know you are. I know you're sorry," Callie replied, tears had started pouring down her face and she scanned the parking lot frantically for someone to help them. But it was supposed to be her day off so she'd been able to cut out before everyone else and the parking lot was completely deserted. "I'm not mad Sawyer, I know you're sorry," she continued to babble as her tears flowed faster and fear seeped through her. She couldn't move her hands from Sawyer's chest to page for help. If she did, she'd bleed out for sure.

"Tell… tell Arizona," Sawyer gasped.

"No," Callie replied fiercely. "I'm not telling Arizona anything. You tell her. You're not dying."

"Callie, please… tell… her… I'm happy we met…. I wish… I knew her… longer."

"No, Sawyer you can't die," Callie pleaded. "Please, Arizona already lost one sibling, I don't think she can do it again. I think it'll kill her. Please. I know you miss your mom, but it's not time for you to be with her yet. We need you here. We love you, Sawyer. Please." She looked up again and scanned the parking lot. Relief flooded through her when she saw a body walking towards the other lot.

"HELP!" Callie screamed, as loud as she could. "HELP!" she called again. The figure turned and started running towards her. As they passed under a street light Callie recognized her saviour. "LEXIE!" Callie screamed frantically as the resident pulled up beside her.

"Oh my god," Lexie started as she took in the sight before her, the semi conscious figure on the ground, Callie on top of her, covered in blood as tears poured down her face.

"Get help!" Callie shouted as Lexie turned on her heel and sprinted back towards the hospital. "Page Hunt and Altman," Callie shouted after her retreating form. She looked back down at Sawyer whose eyes had fluttered closed.

"No, Sawyer, stay awake!" Callie shouted, attempting to shake the body beneath her without removing the pressure she was applying to her chest. "Sawyer, stay awake!" Callie shouted again. The blonde's eyes fluttered open and Callie breathed a sigh of relief. "Stay with me okay, Sawyer, you stay with me," Callie pleaded.

She could hear footsteps pounding on the pavement and the loud clattering wheels of a gurney being rolled towards them. "Over here!" Callie screamed. She turned back to Sawyer. "Help is here, everything's gonna be okay, you stay with me."

She turned and saw Owen, Mark and Avery racing towards her, pushing a gurney between them.

"Climb off, Torres," Owen said, taking charge the moment they reached them.

Callie shakily but quickly, lifted her body from Sawyer's, careful to keep her hands in place the best she could. Owen bent down and scooped Sawyer up, depositing her on the gurney. Callie removed her hands and Avery climbed on board. He took over applying pressure while Owen, Mark and Callie all grabbed hold on the gurney and began sprinting back towards the hospital.

Teddy was already there when they pushed Sawyer into Trauma room 1. "What've we got?" she asked, looking around Avery to try and assess her patient.

"GWS to the chest," Owen replied, "Presenting with severe hemodynamic deterioration. Hang two bags of O Neg."

"No breath sounds on the left," Teddy announced. "Set up a chest tube. I need drapes, beta dine, and a 36 french tube."

"Grab a rapid infuser, she needs a central line," Owen called.

They worked rapidly for a few minutes. Callie tried to hold back her sobs as she hovered and they pushed her out of the way.

"Okay, let's get her to an OR," Teddy said, grabbing hold of the gurney, she and Owen began to wheel it towards the elevator. "And somebody page Yang, I'm gonna need another set of hands."

As they headed towards the elevator Callie ran frantically after them.

"No, Torres, you stay here," Owen called over his shoulder.

"No, I," Callie started, but she felt a hand on her shoulder, slowing her down, pulling her back. The elevator door closed and Callie turned to see that it was Mark beside her, his face pale and grim.

"Cal, what happened?" he asked gently.

A fresh batch of tears began streaming down Callie's cheeks as she answered, "My car, he stole my car, he had a gun and he stole my car but his mask fell off and he shot me but he didn't shoot me because Sawyer was there. She came out of nowhere and she pushed me out of the way and she got shot," Callie rambled frantically.

Mark pulled her into a hug. "Calm down," he said gently. "You're okay, right?"

Callie nodded, taking a deep breath, trying to do as he said and calm down. She'd almost managed to get her breathing under control when a new realization hit her. "Arizona," she said, pulling away from Mark. "Where's Arizona? We need to tell Arizona."

Mark scanned the ER before he called out. "Karev," he shouted to the resident across the room.

Alex jogged over and took in their appearance, Mark pale and stricken, Callie, dressed in her street clothes, covered in blood and still clearly panicked. "Woah, what happened?" he asked.

Mark ignored the question. "Where's Robbins?" he asked.

"In OR 4, doing the pyloric stenosis that got pushed this morning because of the MVA. Why?"

"Can you do it?" Mark asked.

"The procedure?" Alex asked, "Sure."

"Okay, let's go, you need to get scrubbed," Mark said, leading the way for Alex and Callie, he hit the button for the elevator.

When they entered the scrub room for OR 4 Alex immediately grabbed a mask and started scrubbing.

Mark turned to Callie. "I need you to sit on the floor," he said calmly.

"What, why?" Callie asked.

"Your wife is operating on a child right now," Mark replied. "I don't want her to see you before she's completely out of that room. Look at you. She's going to freak out when she sees you like this."

Callie looked down at the massive amount of blood staining her clothing. Sawyer's blood. She gulped. "Okay," she nodded, taking a seat on the floor beside Alex's legs, her back against the sink.

After another minute Alex bent his arms at his elbows and held his hands up in front of him. "Okay," he said to Sloan.

Mark nodded. He grabbed a mask to hold in front of his mouth and opened the door to the OR. "Dr. Robbins," Mark called as Alex stepped in behind him and the door swung closed.

"Yes, Dr. Sloan," Arizona replied, glancing up momentarily from her patient on the table.

"Dr. Karev is going to take over for you here," Mark stated calmly.

"What?" Arizona asked.

"I need you on another case. Right now, Arizona."

Arizona sighed. "Fine." She held the instruments so that Alex could take hold of them. "I did the hard part, you just have the fun stuff left, Karev."

Alex nodded, taking the instruments Arizona offered him. Arizona followed Mark from the OR, pulling off her mask.

"What's the case, Mark?" she asked as the door swung shut behind them and she turned to throw away her mask. Her eyes fell on Callie, sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest. She'd started crying again, the tears making a clear path through the blood that she had wiped on her cheek.

"Oh my god, Callie!" Arizona cried, dropping to her knees in front of her blood soaked wife. "Are you okay?" she asked breathlessly, running her hands over Callie's face, checking for injuries. Even though the rational part of her brain knew that if even the smallest amount of the blood on Callie was her own Mark would never have let her go without treatment, she needed to be sure.

"I'm okay," Callie nodded.

"What happened?" Arizona breathed, pressing a relieved kiss to Callie's temple. She could feel her wife shaking in her arms.

"Sawyer," Callie choked. Arizona felt the bottom of her stomach give out.

"What?" Arizona whispered, dread flooding through her.

"He had a gun," Callie choked through her tears. "He wanted the car. I gave him the keys but his mask fell off and when I saw his face he fired. Sawyer pushed me out of the way, she came out of nowhere and she got shot."

Arizona took in the amount of blood covering Callie's clothes and whispered, "Is she…"

"She's in OR 1," Mark said quickly, and Arizona felt a tiny amount of relief at the fact that she was at least still alive.

"I want to - "

"We'll go to the gallery," Mark assured her before she even had to ask.

As Arizona rushed from the room, Mark could see the panicked tears already starting to fall. Callie hurried after her wife but Mark caught her by the shoulders. "You need to shower and change," he said.

"No, I need to be with her," Callie replied firmly. "She needs me Mark, that's her sister."

"And that's her sister's blood you're covered in," Mark replied. "This surgery could take hours. They won't know how serious it is until they open her up. Arizona doesn't need that reminder sitting beside her the whole time. Go. Take ten minutes. Get cleaned up. I'll stay with her until you get there."

As much as she hated to admit it, Mark was right. So Callie sprinted off towards the change room and Mark took off after Arizona and the gallery.

**So did I say I shot Callie? Yeah… psych ;) Hope you made it to the end of this one. Sound off, I can't wait to hear your thoughts!**


	17. Chapter 17

**So the same disclaimer applies for this chapter. I know nothing about medicine. Everything I used, I learned from watching Grey's. **

When Mark burst through the door of the gallery he found Arizona seated in the front row. They were just getting started. Cristina was walking through the door as Teddy cracked Sawyer's chest.

"Good, you're here," Mark heard Teddy say to Cristina. He realized the intercom was on and he walked over to switch it off.

"Leave it, Mark," Arizona ordered.

"Arizona," Mark tried, he didn't think listening was a great idea.

"I want to hear," she stated firmly. "I want to know what's going on."

"Okay," Mark acquiesced, taking the seat beside Arizona.

"How're you - " he started, but she cut him off.

"Quiet," she snapped. He shut up. She wanted to hear Teddy's initial assessment.

"Can you feel anything?" Cristina asked as she approached the table. "Do you know where the blood's coming from?"

Teddy shook her head. "I can't see anything, give me some suction." Cristina grabbed the suction tube and worked it around while Teddy manoeuvred her hands within the chest cavity. "It's right by the aorta," she stated and Arizona sucked in a deep breath. "There's massive bleeding in the lungs, bullet lodged next to the aorta and a huge hematoma."

"Graft? Or clamp and sew?" Cristina asked.

"Clamp and sew, definitely," Teddy replied. "Gimme a clamp," she called and one was passed to her.

Teddy and Cristina settled in to work and Arizona leaned back in her chair, dropping her head in her hands.

"Robbins?" Mark tried gently.

"I haven't spoken to her all week," Arizona replied without lifting her head. Mark could hear the tears in her voice. "I was mad at her. Punishing her for punching Aria. But it's Sawyer. She doesn't just hit someone for no reason. She must have had a good reason. Oh god, what if the last thing I ever say to her is go away?" She could hear her own voice as it shouted, _Just go. Now_. And she felt like she was going to be sick.

"She's gonna be okay," Mark said gently.

"You don't know that," Arizona countered, looking up from her hands.

"It's Sawyer," Mark replied. "She's strong, and she's tough, and you know she's a fighter. She doesn't give up."

Arizona nodded once before dropping her head back to her hands and her tears started up again. Mark reached over to put his arm around her when Callie ran through the door. She had changed into scrubs and her hair was damp. She was a little out of breath from the sprinting but she didn't seem to care as she dropped down in the seat next to Arizona. She pulled one of Arizona's hands away from her face and when the blonde realized who now occupied the seat beside her she turned her body so that Callie could hold her as she recounted Teddy's assessment through her tears, bringing Callie up to speed.

The three surgeons sat quietly for a while, listening to Teddy and Cristina work when suddenly several machines started beeping and both Arizona and Callie jumped out of their seats to get a better look.

"Dammit, clamp the hilum so I can get better visualization," Teddy ground out through clenched teeth.

"Pulse is 128, BP is cycling," Cristina reported from the monitors.

"Where is this blood coming from?" Teddy muttered.

"C'mon Sawyer, don't do this," Cristina pleaded.

"Got it," Teddy said triumphantly as the monitors all quieted down.

"Atta girl, Sawyer," Cristina said.

"You know her?" Teddy asked conversationally as they settled back into their rhythm. Callie and Arizona resumed their seats. "I've only met her once but I thought she was a really nice kid."

"I've only met her twice," Cristina replied. "Or, three times if you count last week."

"Last week at Joe's?" Teddy asked. "You were there? I heard she punched out Callie's sister."

Arizona grunted. With the amount of doctors who frequented Joe's, Sawyer might as well have hit Aria in the middle of hospital. And anything that exciting was going to get a first class ticket aboard the Seattle Grace gossip train. No one gossiped like their staff.

"Yeah, she did," Cristina replied. "Callie's sister's a bitch though, she totally deserved it."

"Yeah?" Teddy questioned.

"If Sawyer hadn't hit her, I was about to. I think Joe might even have punched her, if he was the kind of guy to hit a woman, 'cause he heard everything too."

"What'd she say?" Teddy asked and Callie and Arizona sat up a little straighter, wanting to hear what Cristina said. Even Mark leaned in a little.

"First she was bitching about Robbins, called her annoying and thought she was coming on to her or something. Which I totally don't get. Why do so many homophobic people think that all gays are trying to sleep with them?" Cristina asked in her typical blunt fashion.

"Yeah, that's never made sense to me either," Teddy replied. "So she hit her because she was bitching about her sister? I guess that's honourable, although a little over the top."

"No, no, she didn't hit her then, she just told her to shut up," Cristina replied. "Then the sister… I really can't remember her name, started going on about how she didn't want to be there, she was only visiting Callie because her daddy wouldn't buy her a new car unless she did. That's another thing," Cristina said, getting side tracked again. "I knew Callie was rich, but I didn't know she was _that_ rich. I mean, I lived with her for years. You'd think she could have let me slide on the rent once or twice. Or at least bought more expensive booze."

Teddy ignored her. "Then what happened?" she asked, bringing Cristina's attention back to her story.

"Sawyer got pissed," Cristina replied. "Told Cal's sister that it wasn't okay to treat Callie that way. Then the sister got way out line and started some serious gay bashing."

Teddy made a face. "Aw, no."

Cristina nodded. "Going on about how Torres and Robbins are disgusting, living in sin, not really married."

"Seriously?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah, Little Robbins handled the whole thing a lot better than I would have. Told the bitch just to get it all out so that when they went back to Robbins and Torres' table she could be polite. But that might have been a mistake because then the sister started talking smack about Sofia."

"No," Teddy said in disbelief.

"How Sofia's gonna be a freak, Torres should have married Sloan, Sofia's not really Robbins' kid."

"Bitch," Teddy stated.

"Yep, then the sister said Callie should have gotten an abortion and Sawyer punched her in the face," Cristina finished.

"Good girl," Teddy stated, matter-of-factly.

They settled back into work and Mark finally tore his eyes away from them. If he hadn't wanted to hug Sawyer before for saving Callie, he definitely wanted to hug her now. He also wanted to high five her and buy her a beer. But as he looked to the women beside him he could tell they weren't as happy. Callie looked like some strange combination between unbelievable anger and nauseousness. Arizona had burst into tears.

"She… Aria…" Callie stuttered. She couldn't decide if she wanted to punch a wall or vomit. That her sister would say those things about her wife, her marriage and her daughter was the most repulsive thing Callie had ever heard. She knew right then and there that she was done with her sister. That they would never, ever, repair their relationship. She doubted if she'd ever speak to her again.

"I yelled at her," Arizona moaned. "She… Sofia," the blonde whimpered and Callie put her arms back around her. "I need to tell her I'm sorry," Arizona whispered.

"I need to tell her thank you," Callie whispered back.

"I have to tell her that too," Arizona replied. "She saved your life. She stood up for us, for Sofia." Callie nodded along with her. "She has to be okay," Arizona breathed.

They had been in the OR for a couple of hours and aside from the minor scare that caused Cristina to recount what had happened at Joe's, the procedure had gone very smoothly. Teddy glanced up at the gallery to see that Arizona, Callie and Mark were all still there and she said, "Finishing the pericardial repair."

The monitor started to scream. "V-fib," Cristina called.

"No," Arizona breathed, rising from her seat again. Callie and Mark did the same.

"Gimme the internal paddles," Teddy called.

"I need one of epi," Cristina shouted.

"Charge to 50. Clear," Teddy yelled. Arizona held her breath.

"Nothing," Cristina stated. "Epi going in," she added as she inserted the needle into the heart.

"Charge again," Teddy demanded. "50. Clear."

Arizona head dropped to her chest as a flat line played across the wailing machine. "No," she whispered again when suddenly a beep sounded from within the OR.

"We got her," Cristina stated.

Teddy looked relieved as she set aside the paddles. "Okay, let's close up."

Callie pulled Arizona into a relieved hug and found that her wife was shaking. "It's okay. They're all done. She did it," Callie whispered soothingly.

**XXXXXXXX**

When Teddy had closed the trio finally shuffled out of the gallery. "You guys want to stay with her tonight?" Mark asked. They both nodded. "Okay, I'll pick up Sofia," Mark said as they made their way along the hall. It was after midnight now and Sofia was currently with their neighbour, Mrs. Hudson.

"Thank you, Mark," Arizona replied, and Mark understood it was for more than just taking the baby. He simply nodded and gave her a quick hug, did the same with Callie and left.

Callie and Arizona found Teddy standing at the nurse's station. She looked tired but happy. "I know you were watching," Teddy started, "but everything went very well. She's still intubated and sedated now, but barring any complications during the night we should be able to wake her up tomorrow morning." Teddy smiled. "She's in 405 if you want to see her."

Arizona pulled Teddy into a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

Teddy hugged her back. "I'll be in to check on her tomorrow morning."

Callie and Arizona made their way down the hall and into Sawyer's room. She was, of course, asleep. Arizona had seen hundreds of sedated patients before, most of them children, but even so, she couldn't get over how small Sawyer looked, lying in that bed. Her mind flashed back to a little over a year ago when it had been Callie lying there, and the gravity of the whole situation seemed to hit her. She let out a sob.

"Hey," Callie said gently, pulling her into a chair. "Hey, it's okay. She's gonna be fine."

Arizona shook her head. "I could have lost you tonight," she whispered.

Callie kissed her forehead. "You didn't."

"You could have been shot."

"But I wasn't," Callie countered. "Sawyer saved me. I still have no idea where she came from. And I can't come up with a single reason that she would be in the hospital parking lot at 10pm. But it all worked out. I'm okay. And she's gonna be okay."

There was a knock at the door and the couple looked up to see Lexie standing there.

"Hey, I heard the procedure went really well," Lexie said, walking into the room. "I brought her things from the ER," she handed Sawyer's bag to Callie. "And the nurses gave me the paperwork they need filled out to admit her," she added, handing a clipboard to Arizona.

"Thanks," Callie replied warmly. She noted that the bag was clean despite the fact that it had been lying in a pool of Sawyer's blood. She realized someone, probably Lexie, had been considerate enough to wipe it down to eliminate the harsh reminder of what could have been.

"Oh, and I figured you were a little preoccupied, so when the police came to investigate the shooting I reported your car stolen," Lexie smiled.

"Oh yeah, somebody stole our car," Callie said almost comically as her mind went back to what had clearly been the least substantial event of the night. "Wait, how'd you know the license number?"

"I've seen your car before," Lexie replied, and Callie remembered the resident's eidetic memory. She also remembered that it had been Lexie who had found them in the parking lot earlier. That's she'd been the one to bring help.

"Thank you, Lexie," Callie said again with complete sincerity.

"You're welcome," Lexie replied. "The police want to talk to you, Cal, but I asked them to wait until tomorrow at least. And if you guys need anything…"

Callie just nodded and Lexie gave her a little smile as she left the room. Callie turned her attention back to Arizona and found that the blonde was staring at the pages Lexie had given her. "Arizona?" Callie questioned.

"Name," Arizona breathed.

"What?" Callie asked.

"The first thing on this form is name. I don't even know her middle name. She could have died, and I'd never have known her middle name."

"Hey," Callie said gently. "The important thing is, you have time to find out. She's going to wake up, and you can ask her all kinds of questions while she's stuck in this bed. You can ask her about everything you ever wanted to know. And her middle name will be on her driver's license," Callie added, opening Sawyer's bag and rooting around for her wallet.

Sawyer had an obnoxiously clean handbag. There were no receipts or candy wrappers lining the bottom like in Arizona's. Or mountains of loose change like in Callie's. And she only had one pen. There was a pack of gum, an umbrella, her sunglasses, cell phone and wallet. As Callie located the wallet, her fingers brushed against the only thing that seemed out of place; two stiff squares of paper. Callie pulled them out along with the wallet.

"I know why Sawyer was in the parking lot," Callie sighed as her eyes fell on the two cards in her hand.

"What?" Arizona asked, and Callie handed her an invitation.

"She was coming to see us. To invite us to her graduation."

Arizona stared at the card in her hands. "She's a doctor," she stated, realization dawning on her. "She did it."

"She's going to be an amazing doctor," Callie smiled, opening Sawyer's wallet and attempting to locate Sawyer's license. "Oh, no way," Callie barked as she read Sawyers license. She burst out laughing.

"What," Arizona asked, breaking from her reverie of staring at Sawyer's invitation.

"Her middle name," Callie giggled. "I can't believe she never mentioned this."

"What is it?" Arizona asked.

"Sawyer Georgia Logan," Callie stated triumphantly. "Her middle name is Georgia."

"No. You're kidding," Arizona said, grabbing the wallet from Callie. "She has a state name?" Sure enough, she looked down at the license to read that Sawyer's middle name was indeed, Georgia.

"You're the state sisters!" Callie giggled.

"Please don't start calling us that."

**So this chapter underwent a far less extensive editing procedure than my other chapters, so there is probably a typo or two. Sorry about that.**

**Let me know what you thought :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**As always: The full extent of my medical knowledge has been accumulated by watching Grey's Anatomy. Any medical errors typed in here – I apologize.**

Arizona shifted in the hard plastic chair, trying to get a little more comfortable. It was late, or more precisely, very early and Callie had dozed off a while ago, her head resting on Arizona's shoulder. Arizona shifted again, willing herself to drift off as well, but her brain wouldn't quiet. It flittered from memories of sitting in this chair, praying for Callie to wake up, to what if scenarios where Sawyer hadn't been in the parking lot tonight and Callie had been shot. It played hypotheticals of Teddy not being able to save Sawyer, which brought about memories of losing Tim. And on top of everything she was still reeling from Cristina's account of what had actually happened at Joe's.

She ran her hand over Callie's hair for probably the hundredth time since she'd fallen asleep, assuring herself yet again that her wife was safe before she turned her gaze back to the woman in the bed. To think that only 9 months ago they'd never met, and now she'd saved Callie's life. She thought about how wrong it was that they'd known each other for such a short while before her brain jumped to Tim, who hadn't known her at all. And she thought of the similarity between her two siblings. Their heroics.

Arizona sighed and gave up on sleep. Her brain wasn't going to give her a break any time soon. She glanced at her watch and decided to harness some of this restless energy. She pressed a long kiss to Callie's temple, assuring herself just once more that the brunette was fine before she shifted Callie in her chair, tipping her head back so that she could slip out from under her. Arizona quietly slunk from the room and pulled out her cell phone. She made her way to a deserted on call room and locked the door to give herself a little privacy before she dialled the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Dad,"

"Arizona, what? Is everything okay? What happened?" the Colonel asked. It was early in Boston, that meant it was the middle of the night in Seattle.

"No, everything's not okay," Arizona replied. "Now I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen and you won't interrupt me. Understand?" She'd definitely never spoken to her father like that before. She expected tears to accompany that statement but they never came.

"Yes," Daniel replied.

"You are a coward," Arizona started. "You are a coward and you don't deserve her. You want to say Sawyer's not your daughter, that you're not her father, well you're right because she's too good for you. She's sweet and kind and caring and funny and you are pathetic. It doesn't make any sense to me that you're the one who won't claim her when she's the one who should be ashamed of you. Because you, you should be proud. Sawyer is everything you always claimed was important to you. She's honourable and she protects the things she loves. She's not just a good man in a storm, Dad, she's… she's Tim. She's a hero. I don't understand how you can be such a coward but you had two children who are so brave. Tim, diving on top of grenades and Sawyer jumping in front of bullets."

"What?" the Colonel breathed, interrupting Arizona for the first time.

"That's right," Arizona continued, her voice waivered but her eyes stayed dry. "Someone carjacked Callie tonight and tried to shoot her. Sawyer pushed Callie out of the way and she got shot. After I yelled at her. After I was mad at her and I was so out of line, she still saved my wife's life and took a bullet to the chest."

Daniel sucked in a breath. "Is she okay?"

"She's alive," Arizona replied flatly. "And I don't get it. How you could have two kids as brave and honourable as Timothy and Sawyer while you are a pathetic, coward, deadbeat dad who won't tell his wife about the affair he had 25 years ago and his other kid." Arizona took a breath. She realized that the tears weren't coming. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest, finally saying everything she'd wanted to say to her father from the moment she'd found out about Sawyer. Dead air hung between them as the silence stretched on and she waited for her father to respond.

"Three kids," Daniel finally replied. "I have three kids who are honourable and brave, Arizona. You are brave and you are honourable, and everything you've done for your sister… I have to go," he finished abruptly.

"What?" Arizona asked, confused by this reply.

"I'll, I'll talk to you later Arizona. I love you," he said simply before hanging up the phone.

Arizona stared at the device for moment and wished for once she could have a conversation with her father that didn't end in her feeling incredibly confused. Replacing the phone in her pocket, Arizona made her way back to Sawyer's room.

She found Callie and Sawyer exactly as she had left them, both sound asleep. She resumed her seat beside Callie and pulled the Latina against her. If she couldn't sleep herself tonight, she'd be content just to hold her wife and watch her sister.

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona awoke to the sound of Teddy's voice. She opened her eyes groggily and found herself snuggled against Callie's shoulder. The Latina smiled down at her when she realized she was awake.

"Hey you," Callie greeted.

Arizona pulled back and stretched. She didn't remember falling asleep, but glancing at her watch she realized she'd been out for a few hours.

"Nice of you to join us," Teddy quipped.

Arizona smiled sleepily. "How's she doing?" she asked, gesturing to Sawyer.

"She is doing excellent," Teddy replied with a smile. "She made it through the night like a trooper, absolutely no complications, her stats are all at or above where I'd like them and she's breathing over the tube so I'm ready to wake her up."

"Awesome," Arizona breathed. Callie laughed at her.

Teddy switched off the sedative drip and Callie and Arizona rose to stand next to the bed. After a minute, Sawyer's eyes slowly fluttered open, she stared at the three women standing over her for a second before she coughed and started choking.

"You're okay, calm down, calm down," Arizona said gently, grabbing Sawyer's hand.

"I need you to cough and keep coughing okay?" Teddy said. "I'm gonna pull out the tube."

Sawyer coughed.

"Cough, keep coughing," Callie urged gently as Teddy pulled the tube out completely.

Callie passed her a cup of water and Sawyer sipped a little bit. "Thanks," she croaked in a hoarse whisper.

"Hey Sawyer, I'm Dr. Altman," Teddy greeted gently.

Sawyer nodded. "I remember you. Teddy," she supplied, her voice still heavy with the effects of the sedative.

"Good," Teddy nodded. "Do you remember what happened?"

Sawyer nodded slowly. "I… I got shot." She turned to look at Callie. "Are you okay?"

Callie laughed gently. "I'm fine."

"I hit you really hard," Sawyer pointed out.

"Yes you did," Callie smiled. "You should play football."

Teddy smiled. "The bullet entered your chest and lodged beside the aorta. There was massive bleeding in your lungs coupled with a very large hematoma. You lost a lot of blood. But we were able to remove the bullet and repair the damage to your heart and lungs. You're going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days, but I expect you to make a full recovery."

"Thank you," Sawyer smiled.

"I'll be back to check on you later," Teddy said. "But you should try to get some rest. Don't let these two keep you up all day."

"I won't," Sawyer promised.

Teddy left the room and Sawyer looked back to the couple. Arizona was still holding her hand. Sawyer figured there probably wasn't a better way to say _Sorry for punching your sister_ than pushing someone out of the way of a bullet and getting shot. But even so…

"Guys, I am so sorry for what happened with Aria," Sawyer started as Callie and Arizona sat back down in their little plastic chairs.

"No."

"No, Sawyer," they replied quickly.

"No," Sawyer countered. "I shouldn't have hit her. And I should have explained what happened. I just - "

"Sawyer," Arizona cut her off gently. "Do you remember what I told you about Joe's, the first time we went there?"

Sawyer thought for a second. "Uh, if you distract Joe by asking about Walter and the twins he makes your drink stronger?"

Arizona tipped back her head and laughed. "No," she giggled. "I told you that there was always somebody listening at Joe's."

Sawyer looked confused for a moment before realization hit her.

"Cristina heard everything," Callie supplied. "And she doesn't sugar coat things so we got the full story." Sawyer looked sad and a little sheepish, and Callie figured she'd been right in guessing that Sawyer hadn't explained because she'd been trying to find a way to soften the blow.

Callie leaned in and hugged Sawyer. "Thank you," she said gently. "For standing up for us, and for Sofia. She's lucky to have an aunt who loves her like you do." She pulled back a little and looked seriously at Sawyer. "And I would have punched her too. Probably a lot more repeatedly and a lot more viciously than you did." Sawyer laughed. "And you saved my life," she added, squeezing Sawyer gently again. "I'll never be able to repay you for that."

Sawyer smiled. "You guys saved my life a long time ago," she stated sincerely.

Callie released Sawyer and backed away, so that Arizona could have her turn. The older blonde had started to cry as she approached Sawyer.

"Hey, don't cry," Sawyer said gently.

"I am so sorry," Arizona stated flatly.

Sawyer shook her head. "You didn't know what happened. I didn't explain. Arizona, you didn't know." She reached out towards her sister with one tentative arm and Arizona leaned forward and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"You saved Callie," she whispered through her tears.

"I really like Callie," Sawyer joked gently.

"You could have died," Arizona added.

Sawyer shook her head against Arizona's shoulder and hugged her tighter.

"I love you," Arizona breathed.

"I love you too," Sawyer replied.

They hung out with Sawyer a while longer before both Callie and Arizona noticed the growing fatigue in Sawyer's features. When they told her to get some sleep, Sawyer countered that they should do the same, citing that both women looked like crap from their stressful night followed by half sleep in uncomfortable chairs.

"At least go take a shower, Arizona," Sawyer commanded.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Arizona joked.

"Yes, you smell like a locker room. And I am trapped in this bed and can't get away from you. So you need to smell better. Shower."

Arizona pretended to be insulted but a shower actually sounded awesome. She'd been at the hospital for over 24 hours and slept in her scrubs after being on her feet all day. "Fine," she huffed playfully. "Anything else I can do for you, your highness?"

Sawyer grinned cheekily and replied, "Well if you're offering… These hospital gowns are freezing. Do you have a sweater or something here that I could borrow?"

Arizona smiled. "Yeah, of course. I'll be right back."

Arizona went to her cubby and retrieved the very old hoodie that she kept at work but never wore. She returned promptly to Sawyer's room and handed her the garment.

Unfolding the sweater, Sawyer grinned. "Seriously?" she said, reading the Greek letters Kappa Alpha Theta displayed proudly across the chest. "You were a sorority sister?"

"It's an old sweater!" Arizona defended. "From back when I was doing my undergrad at Brown."

Sawyer's grin grew wider.

"It's not what you think," Arizona countered.

"It's totally what I think," Sawyer smiled, glancing at Callie.

Callie nodded. "Yeah, she totally joined just to meet chicks."

Arizona scoffed. "I made some great friends by joining that sorority," she defended.

Sawyer giggled. "I'm sure you did." Arizona rolled her eyes at her. "I can just see you," Sawyer continued. "You'd be the perfect sorority sister, all blonde hair and blue eyes and pep."

Arizona scoffed again. "Um, have you looked in the mirror? You're telling me you were never in a sorority?"

"Uh, yes. That is what I'm telling you," Sawyer nodded. "Seriously, when would I have had time to be in a sorority? I played D1 soccer for four years at Columbia, and I had two jobs here in Seattle."

"Oh!" Callie interrupted suddenly. "Your work. We can call the Archfield for you. Let them know what happened. When's your next shift?"

Sawyer chuckled. "I got fired."

"What?" Callie and Arizona asked in unison.

"Aria lodged several strongly worded complaints about me during her stay, and they take complaints from the daughter of Carlos Torres pretty seriously." Sawyer said with a wry smile.

"She got you fired?" Callie asked incredulously. "I'll get you your job back Sawyer. There are two daughters of Carlos Torres and I'm the one who used to live there so - "

"Callie," Sawyer cut her off. "I don't need my job back. I'm gonna recover from this and then, I'm a doctor."

"Yes you are," Arizona beamed.

Callie softened. "Okay… but still…"

Sawyer shrugged. "I may have put some gay porn on her bill."

Callie roared with laughter. "I love you, Sawyer," she giggled.

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona left and took half an hour to get cleaned up and changed before she returned to Sawyer's room to find her sister asleep, Callie reading through some charts.

"Hungry?" Callie asked when Arizona entered.

She hadn't realized it until Callie posed the question, but Arizona was starving. "Yeah, I am."

"Okay, you stay here. I'll grab us some stuff from the cafeteria," Callie said rising. They seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement that one of them would stay with Sawyer at all times.

Callie returned twenty minutes later with coffee and sandwiches. They ate and chatted and just generally hung out while Sawyer slept.

Later in the afternoon, when Sawyer woke up, she realized the couple hadn't left her all day. "You're still here?" she questioned a little sleepily.

Arizona nodded. "Sleep well?"

Sawyer shrugged. "You don't have to sit here all day. You must have better things to do. And I know I'm not that exciting when I sleep."

Callie just shrugged.

"Fine," Sawyer sighed. "Where's Sofia?"

"With Mark," Arizona answered.

"But last weekend was his weekend," Sawyer countered, and it made Arizona smile to know that Sawyer knew Sofia's schedule.

"We had somewhere we needed to be," Callie smiled.

"Couldn't Sofia be here too?" Sawyer asked, hopefully.

Arizona laughed. "I'll call Mark. See if that can be arranged."

An hour later, Mark strode into Sawyer's hospital room with Sofia on his hip. "Ma! Ma Mi!" Sofia cried happily at the sight of her mothers. Callie stole Sofia from Mark quickly, burrowing her nose in Sofia's neck when the gravity that she had almost been shot last night caught up with her again.

Mark brushed past Arizona and engulfed Sawyer immediately in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," he smiled.

"Thanks, Mark," Sawyer replied.

Mark grinned at her, lowering his voice. "You saved Callie, and you punched out the bitch. As soon as you get out of here, beers are on me kiddo."

"Beers are always on you, Mark," Sawyer countered playfully. "You're the hot shot plastic surgeon."

"And you're the lowly med student," Mark joked.

"Ah, not any more," Arizona argued proudly.

"That's right. I am a doctor," Sawyer beamed.

Mark grinned right back. "Congratulations Soy Sauce. Just one more thing to celebrate."

Sawyer rolled her eyes at Mark's continued usage of that nickname. "Alright, Mark, I'm happy to see you, but we all know who I'm really after."

Arizona smiled took her daughter from Callie, stealing a kiss before gently deposited Sofia on Sawyer's bed, hovering close by in case the one year old tried to grab onto any wires or IVs.

"Sa-ah!" Sofia beamed when she recognized her aunt in the bed, and Sawyer's heart melted the same way it did every time Sofia delivered this bungled pronunciation of her name.

"Hey Sofia-Bear," Sawyer cooed, pulling the little girl to sit in her lap.

Sofia babbled in one-year old while her parents and aunt looked on. It was mostly nonsensical but every once in a while Sofia would make a sound that was vaguely animalistic, and Arizona would jump in with her interpretation of what animal their daughter had been mimicking.

"Okay, that was totally an anteater," Arizona stated proudly.

"You have no idea what an anteater sounds like," Callie said with an eye roll.

"Maybe not, but Sofia clearly does," Arizona replied. Callie was about to argue that logic when Arizona burst, "That was _definitely_ a chicken. And I know what a chicken sounds like, Calliope."

"Our daughter is _not_ making chicken noises," Callie stated firmly.

"Did you cluck like a chicken, big girl?" Arizona cooed. "Bock, bock, bock, like a chicken?"

Sofia giggled at Arizona and clapped her hands. "Bah bah bah," she mimicked.

"Okay, that was more like a sheep," Sawyer surmised.

"Sheep is fine," Callie agreed. "But she is not a chicken." The memory of Cristina referring to Sofia as a featherless, beakless chicken hung in the back of her brain, and she was not okay with the association.

"Why not a chicken?" Mark asked. "She's always playing with the stuffed bird Yang got her. And I think that thing even makes noise."

"Oh it makes noise," Arizona agreed, rolling her eyes.

"Don't talk to me about that chicken," Callie mirrored Arizona's sentiment.

"I love that chicken!" Sawyer spoke up.

Callie laughed and was prepared to enter into a full debate with Sawyer about the merits of that annoying toy when something in the hallway caught her eye. Callie did a double take but when she was sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her she subtly nudged Arizona beside her and gestured out towards the hall. Arizona's voice caught in her throat and she stood up quickly.

"I'll be right back," she announced.

A combination of the pain medication Sawyer was on and the fact that her attention had been wholly consumed by her adorable niece, meant that her super powers of observation weren't up to their usual standards, and she missed this little exchange between the couple. Arizona had never been more grateful for the numbing effects of narcotics than in that moment as she stepped into the hall.

"Dad?"

**Woo! Hope you folks made it to the end, and enjoyed this little instalment. We had a lot of the dark and twisties going on in the past few chapters, so I thought it was time for a change of pace and a few smiles.**

**Speaking of smiles, you know how to put one on my face? That's right! Review!**

**Seriously. I'd love your thoughts. Hit that blue button.**


	19. Chapter 19

"Hello, Arizona," the Colonel greeted.

Arizona pushed him around the corner, out of the line of sight of Sawyer's hospital room. "What are you doing here?"

"Your call this morning," Daniel replied, "It put a few things in perspective for me. There are some… things I need to discuss with Sawyer. And with you."

"Dad, she just had major surgery. Do you really think now is the time?"

"That's the thing, Arizona," the Colonel replied. "I always thought I had time to one day… That I could have both of you. But she could have died last night, never knowing. And me never knowing her…"

Her father seemed a little rambley, and he wasn't making a lot of sense. Which was so unlike the Colonel that Arizona found it rather disconcerting.

"I just need ten minutes," Daniel continued, and Arizona's mind flashed back to her first meeting with Sawyer, all those months ago. _If you just give me ten minutes, I'm sure I can get you to believe me._

"Okay, I'll talk to her," Arizona agreed. "But if she doesn't want to see you, or if you upset her…"

Daniel quickly nodded his consent.

"Wait here," she ordered before hurrying back to the room. A quick glance at Callie and an unspoken conversation passed between the two of them.

Callie made a point of looking at her watch. "Okay," she said gently, running a hand over Sofia's hair, who was still sitting in Sawyer's lap. "It's her nap time. We really should get her down."

"Okay," Sawyer sighed. She turned the little girl around to face her and gave her a hug and a kiss. "Sweet dreams, Bear. I love you."

Callie retrieved Sofia from Sawyer and gestured for Mark to follow her.

Once in the hallway Mark asked. "It's not her nap time. What are you talking - " but his voice faltered when they rounded the corner and Mark saw who was standing there. "Colonel," Mark greeted, surprised.

"Hello, Mark," Daniel replied, extending his hand. Mark shook it in a state of semi disbelief. The Colonel had definitely never shaken his hand before. On the very few instances they'd met, the Colonel usually preferred to pretend Mark didn't exist.

"Sofia," Daniel greeted his granddaughter warmly, leaning in to kiss her cheek. Pulling back he looked to his daughter in law. "Hello, Callie."

"Colonel," Callie greeted with a little half smile.

"You're, uh, here to see Sawyer?" Mark asked.

Daniel nodded. " I believe Arizona is in there now, preparing her for me."

"Well that's good then," Mark supplied when Callie failed to speak.

Daniel nodded again. "Yes, there are some things we need to discuss."

Callie just nodded. "It's her nap time," she said, gesturing to Sofia and figuring if that lie had worked once there was no reason it wouldn't work again. "But, uh, we'll see you later."

Callie, Mark and Sofia made their way down the hall as Daniel made his way to Sawyer's room.

**XXXXXXXX **

When Mark and Callie had left the room, Arizona grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it right up to the edge of Sawyer's bed before taking a seat.

"So…" she started hesitantly, pinching the edge of Sawyer's blanket between her fingers so her nervous hands had something to occupy them.

Sawyer quirked an eyebrow at Arizona, "You're using your _I'm in trouble _voice."

Arizona laughed. Apparently Sawyers powers of observation still worked on some things.

"Yeah, I wish I had a cigarette," Arizona joked.

"Ew," Sawyer replied making a grossed out face.

Arizona chuckled. "So, I kinda did a thing."

"A thing?" Sawyer repeated.

"I… I called my dad," Arizona continued.

"Okay…" Sawyer replied. She looked at Arizona, confused. "I've never had a dad, Arizona, but I am familiar with the concept. And from my understanding, calling them is not really out of the ordinary. I don't really think that constitutes _a thing_."

"I told him about you," Arizona elaborated.

"He knows about me…" Sawyer replied, the drugs making her a little slower than usual.

"About what you did for Callie," Arizona explained. "And that you got shot."

"Oh," Sawyer replied, and Arizona couldn't quite place the emotion behind the tone. "Well, I mean, I guess that's fine. It's not like it's a secret."

Arizona nodded. "He's here."

Sawyer's eyes widened. "Here in Seattle?" she asked.

"Here in the hospital," Arizona corrected. "In the hallway outside your room." Sawyer's eyes widened further. "If you don't want to see him I'll go tell him that now's not a good time," Arizona added quickly.

"Uh, no, I mean," Sawyer looked incredibly overwhelmed.

"You want to see him?" Arizona asked. "He said he wants to explain some things. Just ten minutes and he'll be gone."

"I… I guess that's okay," Sawyer started, but a knock at the door cut her off.

The sisters looked up to see Daniel Robbins framed in the doorway. He'd always had impeccable timing Arizona noted absently.

Arizona smiled at Sawyer. "I'm just going to - " she'd started to rise from the chair, but Sawyer reached out and grabbed hold of the hand that was still resting on the blanket. She held it with a death grip and Arizona sat back down. "I'm just going to stay right here, that's what I'm going to do."

"Hello, Sawyer," Daniel greeted, walking into the room and occupying the chair on the other side of the bed.

"Hi," Sawyer replied guardedly.

"I hear you're going to make a full recovery," Daniel continued. "That's very good."

"Yeah," Sawyer replied simply.

The Colonel leaned back in his chair, realizing Sawyer wasn't going to give him any small talk. He decided to get right into it. "When Arizona phoned me to tell me that you'd been shot… among other things," he added with a little glance at the older blonde, "It put things in perspective for me. I realized that I'd been going about this all wrong and that I could have lost you."

Arizona felt Sawyer's hand twitch within her own at the insinuation that Sawyer was Daniel's to lose. The younger woman's face hardened and she clearly resented the implication.

"So I'm here to explain some things," Daniel continued, "And I thought the easiest way would be to start at the beginning. With my relationship with your mother." He looked to Sawyer to see that it was okay for him to speak on the subject and she gave him an almost imperceptible little nod. Daniel glanced at Arizona to see if she would be comfortable hearing about this, and she too nodded for him to continue.

"I think you know that your mother and I were involved for roughly two years, and during that time, I can honestly say that I was in love with her." Arizona flinched a little at this but she said nothing. "But I also never stopped loving my wife, and when Alicia told me she was pregnant I realized what a complete idiot I had been to think that I could continue to love them both. What happened next was the least proud moment of my entire life. I panicked. I was afraid of losing Barbara, of losing my kids, losing my job and I ended things with your mother."

"I read the letter," Sawyer replied dryly.

Daniel looked even more ashamed as he continued. "I packed up my family and moved them to Pearl Harbour. I don't know if it was the space, or the time, or the fact that I was in the place that my father died, but I… I gained clarity. I realized that I loved my kids so much that another baby could never be a bad thing. Not really. And it might cost me my marriage but that I had made this situation for myself and I needed to be the man my father intended me to be. I needed to be your father."

Arizona glanced down at Sawyer and by the expression on her face, it seemed like Sawyer was trying not to roll her eyes.

"So I tried to track down your mother," the Colonel continued. "By the time I got my head out of my ass she'd already left Germany. I knew she'd come to the States but I didn't know where. I called every single person we knew back in Frankfurt but they either didn't know where she'd gone, or wouldn't tell me. Eventually, someone I'd contacted must have let Alicia know that I was looking for her and she sent me this."

Daniel reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tattered old envelope. In elegant handwriting, Arizona could read her father's name, followed by a Hawaii address. The look of annoyance Sawyer had been wearing fell off her face at the sight of the letter and Arizona guessed that she recognized the handwriting as her mother's. She remembered the feeling of dread that had struck her when Sawyer had handed her her father's letters all those months ago, and she gave her sister's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I kept it all these years to remind me what being an idiot can cost you," Daniel supplied as he extended the letter to Sawyer. She took it with her free hand, not willing to let go of Arizona, and when she pulled the single page free from the envelope, Arizona was surprised to find that she held it open so that Arizona could read it as well.

_Daniel,_

_I won't tell you where I am, and I won't contact you again, so please, stop looking for me. Stop bothering my friends; most of them don't even know where I am now. I wanted a fresh start_ _and I need you to let me have it._

_The baby is gone. Aborting the pregnancy was the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I'll never forgive you for it._

_You said we were over, and I need to move on. And you need to let me. So leave me be, Daniel._

_Goodbye,_

_Alicia_

From the length of time Sawyer spent staring at the piece of paper in her hand, Arizona guessed she must have read through it at least a dozen times. She finally lowered her hand, and tossed the paper back towards the Colonel without looking at him. It only travelled about a foot though, and it landed on her thigh. She jiggled her leg when it settled there, trying to get it off, so Arizona quickly rose and picked it up, passed it to her father and sat back down without a word.

"I didn't know," Daniel said gently. "That you… were alive. I thought you were gone. If I'd known you were out there, Sawyer… I'd have found you. You'd have known me. I would have been your father and, and what happened to you… it never would have happened. I'd have stopped it."

At the realization that Daniel was talking about the abuse she'd suffered in her childhood, Sawyer whipped around to fix Arizona with an angry glare. She pulled her hand out of Arizona's grasp.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Arizona pleaded. "I was mad at him, I wanted him to feel bad, to feel guilty for not helping you… I told him…"

"I don't tell people that," Sawyer ground out through clenched teeth. "That is not a tool that you use to make people feel guilty. You don't get to tell people about that."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Arizona replied quickly. "I know that's yours, and I've never told anyone else, I didn't even mean to tell him. I'm sorry Sawyer." She reached out and grabbed Sawyer's hand again, taking it between both of her own. Sawyer tensed for a second, but she didn't withdraw her hand.

Sawyer turned to level the Colonel with a flat stare. "I don't talk about that. We're never going to talk about that."

Daniel simply nodded.

"What about college?" Sawyer asked, closing her eyes. "I know she called you. Where were you then?"

"You're right," Daniel nodded. "She called me. She told me that she had had my baby 18 years ago and that you were going to college. I was… I was shocked. Stunned. But I was going to help," he added sincerely. "I told your mother that I would give you whatever you needed. And then she called me back to tell me that you'd won an athletic scholarship, and that the two of you didn't need my help anymore. I tried to help anyways. I wanted to meet you. I wanted to know you, but your mother she… she felt that I had given up any right to you when I left her and told her to have an abortion. She'd never wanted me to be a part of your life. It killed me. And I was angry with her for hiding you from me all those years. But she was your mother, and I'd never been your father, so I respected her wishes… Mostly."

Daniel paused and Sawyer gave him a confused look, prompting him to continue. "I knew you were out there now, and that you were going to Columbia, and playing soccer, so… I went to a few of your games."

Sawyer's eyes widened in surprise.

"I went to a couple every year," Daniel continued. "You're very talented. And I was at your graduation from Columbia. I hid in the back so your mother wouldn't see me, but I was so proud and so thrilled to find out that you were going to med school. I didn't know your mother had passed away until you called me though, back in July… And this, this is where I really went wrong Sawyer."

Daniel sighed. "I never wanted you to think that your mother was a villain in any of this. She had a right not to trust me after the way I treated her. I understand why she didn't trust me with her child. I thought, by telling you no, I could just stay completely a bad guy in your mind, at least for the time being. With the death of your mother being so recent, I didn't want to complicate things by telling you she'd been lying to you your whole life. I thought I could do that for your mother. I had a plan all figured out. It took me a few weeks to get the funds together but your medical school tuition was going to be paid in full as a scholarship from an anonymous benefactor. But when I went to handle the payment, I found that your tuition had already been paid in full."

Daniel glanced at Arizona, looking for confirmation that it had been her and Callie who had footed the bill and she gave him a tiny little nod.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," the Colonel sighed. "I've always wanted to know you, but I thought that this was how I could best respect your mother's wishes. My plan was to wait a little longer, until the death of your mother wasn't so fresh, but I know I was wrong. I know I did this all wrong and I'm so sorry."

The room hung in silence for almost a minute before Sawyer simply said, "Okay," and the Colonel understood that he was being dismissed.

"I think my ten minutes are up," Daniel said gently, rising from his chair. As he left the room, he paused in the doorway. "Arizona, I know this doesn't explain how I've treated you over the past few months. I can explain that too." He looked at her hopefully.

Arizona nodded. "Okay," she said. "Later."

The Colonel nodded and slipped quietly from the room.

"Sawyer," Arizona prodded gently.

"She lied to me," Sawyer whispered. "My whole life, she lied to me."

"She thought she was doing what was best for you. She was trying to protect you." Arizona countered softly.

"Arizona, she let a man beat us, she let a man break us again and again and there was a way that she could have stopped it. That's not protection."

"Sawyer," Arizona whispered sadly. "It's not that simple. You know it's not that simple. She was a victim."

"Would you ever let that happen to Sofia?" Sawyer challenged. "If there was anything within your power to stop it?"

Arizona looked at her sadly.

Sawyer shook her head. "I always knew she hated him… but I never thought…" Sawyer looked Arizona in the eye. "She lied to me. I could have had a dad my whole life."

Sawyer wiped the tears away that had started to fall on her cheeks and Arizona pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry sweetie."

"We could have known each other," Sawyer whispered.

"I know," Arizona replied sadly. She let Sawyer go, and Sawyer wiped at her eyes.

"You should go talk to your dad," Sawyer said.

"I can sit with you," Arizona offered.

Sawyer shook her head. "No… I need to think. I just… want to be alone for a little bit. Go talk to your dad."

"Okay," Arizona conceded. "But if you need anything…"

"I know who to call," Sawyer smiled.

"I'll be back later," Arizona promised. She gave Sawyer's hand one last squeeze before she exited the room, and turned to go find her father.

**Hey folks! Hope you made it to the end!**

**Let me hear your thoughts! You know they make me smile :)**


	20. Chapter 20

Arizona found her father hovering just around the corner when she exited Sawyer's room. She couldn't place the emotion on his face until he spoke.

"I never thought I'd see the two of you together like that," he said, and she realized it was pride. "You look so much like sisters."

"Mark says you make very attractive girls," Arizona replied flippantly, although she knew he wasn't commenting on how much she and Sawyer looked alike. Normally, Arizona wouldn't dream of saying something like that to her father but she was still very pissed.

The Colonel flinched a little at her crass remark but didn't comment. "Is there somewhere that we could talk?" he asked hopefully.

Arizona sighed. "Yeah, let's go to my office." She led her father down the hall without a word.

Once inside, Arizona rounded on her father. "You let me hate you," she accused. "For months. I hated you Dad. You took away my image of you as a hero, as the perfect dad. Why would you do that?"

"I'm not the perfect dad," Daniel sighed.

"No, you're not," Arizona replied sharply. "But what you just said in there… that's redeeming. You made some terrible mistakes. You had an affair and you freaked out when she got pregnant but you were ultimately always going to do the right thing. Why wouldn't you tell me that?"

"Because I was your hero, Arizona," the Colonel replied sadly.

"Exactly!" Arizona shouted, exasperatedly.

"No, Arizona, you don't understand," Daniel said, shaking his head. "If you knew, if you knew the whole story, that her mother had lied to me and told me that Sawyer was gone, that she'd denied me any contact after I finally found out about her… You would have needed to defend me, and you would have told Sawyer."

"You could have told me to keep it a secret," Arizona countered, although she had a sinking feeling that her father was right.

"Maybe," the Colonel nodded. "And maybe you would have kept it a secret. But your whole world was changing, your life was being challenged and I don't think you would have been able to help yourself. I think you would have needed to defend my honour."

Arizona sighed and nodded as she took a seat behind her desk. He was probably right. Her father pulled back one of the chairs opposite her and sat as well.

"When I went to pay Sawyer's tuition and found that it had already been paid, I knew it had to be you and Callie. And while I was a little annoyed that the two of you managed to beat me to the punch,"

Arizona gave a little smile. It wasn't surprising that she and Callie had been able to come up with the funds before her father had. He was a retired Marine Colonel with 40 years of service and so he had plenty of funds, but the ever-responsible man had all of his assets tied up in various mutual funds and investments. The multi-million dollar trust fund Callie had inherited from her father's hotel chain meant that the couple's funds were far more accessible.

"I was mostly just incredibly proud," Daniel continued. "That you would step up and take care of your sister like that. I meant what I said this morning Arizona. You are an unbelievably brave and honourable woman, and I have always been immeasurably proud of you. I hope someday you'll be able to understand why I lied to you and maybe be able to forgive what I've done. I know I've made a lot of mistakes…"

"What about Mom?" Arizona asked.

"Your mother knows," Daniel nodded.

"What?" Arizona asked.

"I told her this morning, before I caught my plane. I think she knew, at the time… about Alicia. But I know she never suspected that there was another child. When Alicia told me she'd terminated the pregnancy I decided to never tell her what might have been. I was so afraid of losing her and of losing you and Timothy. When I found out about Sawyer… Alicia wouldn't let me see her and I felt like telling your mother would do nothing but hurt her since I was never going to be able to have a relationship with my daughter. And when Alicia died and I resigned myself to the fact that I would respect Alicia's wishes and keep playing the role of the bad guy so that Sawyer never saw Alicia that way…I was just being a coward. I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want to hurt her."

"But you told her this morning?" Arizona questioned.

Daniel nodded. "She… she could have died and she deserves to know the truth. I would love to get to know her a little… I always thought that somehow, someday I would get that chance. But then you called this morning and I realized that life is too short to just wait for someday. So decided it was time for the truth. For your mother, for Sawyer, for you."

"Does Mom know, that I know?" Arizona questioned hesitantly.

"No," Daniel shook his head. "She was upset… She was angry. After the words, _I have another daughter_ came out of my mouth she really didn't want to hear anything else. She told me to leave, that she needs time to process. But when I go back and explain, answer her questions, I'll tell her everything. Unless you don't want her to know that you know?"

Arizona shook her head. "No, I think we've had enough secrets and lies."

Daniel looked appropriately sheepish. "Right, you're right." He sighed and stood. "I want to get back to your mother. I'm staying at the Four Seasons tonight before I catch my flight back to Boston tomorrow morning. I just… needed to come here in person. See that she was okay. Tell you both the truth."

Arizona rose and followed him to the door. "Thank you," she said. "For finally…" her voice faltered but her understood. Arizona rose up on her toes and hugged him. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Arizona," the Colonel replied. "So much."

When her father had left Arizona sat back down behind her desk and rested her head in her hands. So much had happened in the last 24 hours, almost all of it good. Sawyer had saved Callie's life and survived her own surgery. They'd found out that Sawyer's actions towards Aria had been completely warranted and that she was graduating from medical school. And now she'd had her father show up to finally shed light on his situation with Sawyer and her mother and his behaviour towards Arizona all year. Yes, it was almost all good but it was still very overwhelming.

Arizona sighed. She wanted to forgive her father, and she knew that eventually she would. It was just going to take a little time. She knew that if she felt this conflicted at her father's revelations she couldn't imagine how Sawyer felt right now. Glancing at her watch, she realized she'd left Sawyer's room less than an hour ago, and figured that that probably wasn't quite enough time for Sawyer to want company again. Instead, she pulled out her phone, hopeful for a text from Callie to let her know where she was.

She wasn't disappointed. Her phone alerted her to one new text message from Callie.

_**Hey. Hope everything's going okay with your Dad. Sofia and I are at home but I can come back if you need me. Love you. – C**_

Arizona smiled, grabbed her things, and headed home.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Wow," Callie said as Arizona finished recounting all that her father had told her.

"Yeah," Arizona agreed.

"Oh my god," Callie shook her head. "How'd Sawyer take it?"

"Better than I would have," Arizona replied. "I mean, knowing that your father didn't abandon you, that's gotta be nice but when she found out that her mother lied to her for all those years… she looked pretty devastated."

"And what about you?" Callie asked. "How're you handling it?"

"I'm… good," Arizona settled on an adjective eventually. "Happy and kinda relieved that my dad isn't the loser I thought he was. But I'm still mad at him for lying to me."

Callie nodded. That made sense.

"He told my mom," Arizona continued. "Just that he has another child. She kicked him out before he could tell her anything more."

"She kicked him out?" Callie repeated, eyes wide.

"Not like that," Arizona shook her head. "Just so she could have some space to process. She hasn't called has she?"

Callie shook her head.

"Do you think… they'll split up over this?" Arizona asked tentatively. It seemed absurd to think that her parents, who had been married over 40 years, would ever get divorced. But she realized it was a possibility.

Callie shrugged. "I think it depends how much your mom knew back then. If she knew about the affair but didn't leave him, I'll think she'll stay. If she really never knew… I don't know, Arizona."

Arizona nodded. She remembered her father's words, that he thought Barbara had known about the affair while it was going on, and she held out hope that her parents would be able to stay together.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Finally," Callie said, getting up from the couch to answer it. "I called like an hour ago."

Arizona heard Callie speaking with someone at the door for a minute before it swung closed, and Callie walked back towards the kitchen, a large brown paper bag in her hand. Getting up to investigate, Arizona saw a take-out flyer for Minos Village stapled to bag.

"You ordered Greek?" Arizona asked, surprised. Callie wasn't big on Greek food. She'd downright hated it until Sawyer had introduced them to Minos Village, a tiny little family owned Greek restaurant down the street from the record store. But even then, they still only got Greek food when Sawyer was around.

"It's for Sawyer," Callie replied. Arizona raised an eyebrow at the size of the bag. "Well, and us," Callie continued. "I just didn't want her to have to eat hospital food and Greek's her favourite."

Arizona smiled at Callie's thoughtfulness. "Then let's head back to the hospital. I'm starving."

When they entered Sawyer's hospital room, they found her sitting up in bed, pushing the gooey looking hospital potatoes around her tray. When she saw the bag of food in Callie's hand a grin broke out on her face.

"You do love me!" Sawyer exclaimed happily, pushing her hospital meal aside.

Callie laughed and dug into the bag, handing Sawyer her dinner of pork souvlaki.

They ate their dinners and chatted, mostly about Sofia and a little about Sawyer's upcoming graduation ceremony. They deliberately avoided any talk of the events of that afternoon until all the food was consumed, and a comfortable silence had fallen over the trio.

"Sawyer," Arizona started gently, breaking the quiet. "How… how're you doing?"

Sawyer sighed. "Do you believe in fate?" she asked.

"I do," Arizona replied. And she did. And she had since the moment she'd heard Sofia's heartbeat through the monitor and fallen completely in love with her baby girl. The little baby girl she wouldn't have if she hadn't left for Africa.

Callie nodded as well, also thinking of Sofia. She figured at this point, if Arizona hadn't left, they'd probably have another baby, or at least be well on their way. But then she wouldn't have her perfect little girl, and she just couldn't fathom that.

"Me too," Sawyer nodded. "I mean, if I hadn't punched Aria, and you had been speaking to me, I wouldn't have been in that parking lot and I wouldn't have been there to push Callie out of the way. I really believe that I was meant to be there."

Arizona squeezed Callie's hand and they both smiled and nodded.

"I think," Sawyer continued, "If I'd had a dad growing up… I'd be different. We'd be different." She gestured between herself and Arizona. "I think you'd probably hate me." Arizona looked confused until Sawyer continued. "If, at eleven years old, you'd suddenly had a new sister, who, if she didn't end your parents marriage she would have certainly changed it… I think you would have resented me for that. And if your dad had stayed with your mom and I was the kid who came to visit sometimes and saw your happy life… As a kid I think I would have been jealous. We wouldn't have… this… And I wouldn't give this up for anything. So I think I'll be okay. I still can't believe that she lied to me but I know she loved me. I think this is just the way it was supposed to be."

Arizona smiled and she couldn't help agreeing with Sawyer's logic.

"How're you and your dad?" Sawyer asked.

"We're gonna be good," Arizona replied. "I'm mad that he lied to me but I understand it. We'll be okay." Sawyer smiled. "He's flying back to Boston tomorrow but… he'd like to get to know you… eventually."

Sawyer smiled. "That could be… okay. I think." She grinned cheekily. "Wanna be my buffer?"

Arizona laughed. "Sure."

"No punching though," Sawyer joked.

"Hmm, maybe we should forage this relationship over Skype. It'd probably be safest for all," Arizona replied.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door, and they turned to see Teddy standing there.

"Hey, guys," Teddy smiled. She walked into the room and began assessing Sawyer's monitors before she examined her patient.

"So I've been good all day right?" Sawyer asked. "Everything's good?"

"Everything looks great," Teddy agreed. "You were very healthy before you got shot and, if you have to get shot, that's the time to do it."

"So maybe I could go home tonight?" Sawyer asked, hopefully.

Callie laughed. "You just had major heart surgery!"

"I hate hospitals," Sawyer grumbled.

"You just became a doctor!" Arizona replied with a laugh.

"What's your point?" Sawyer asked playfully.

"You need to be observed," Teddy said strictly.

"My roommate is very observant," Sawyer tried.

"Observed by doctors," Teddy corrected.

Sawyer sighed and closed her eyes. Teddy glanced up to see Callie and Arizona exchanging looks. She looked to the couple and Arizona smiled and nodded.

"Although I could release you into the custody of two doctors," Teddy suggested and Sawyer's eyes snapped open. "If you promise to stay with them constantly for the next few days and continue on bed rest."

Sawyer nodded eagerly.

"Okay," Teddy smiled. "I'll go start the paperwork." She left the room.

"You guys are awesome," Sawyer beamed. "Thank god I don't have to sleep here tonight. Hospitals creep me out."

"You're a doctor!" Arizona cried again.

"Why do you keep pointing that out?" Sawyer grinned.

**Okay. So what are the odds that Teddy would actually release Sawyer, even into the custody of two surgeons? Probably not fantastic, I admit it. Based on my research, a 4 day hospital stay after open heart surgery is average. Thankfully, as an author and not a doctor, I am not required to follow these strict regulations lol. So just go with it ;) The story will be more fun if Sawyer's out of the hospital.**

**Leave me a review if you have a minute. You know they make me smile :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Arizona figured it was a good thing they had a comfortable couch. Their apartment had no guest bedroom, and so Sawyer's days of bed rest would have to be downgraded to couch rest. But Sawyer didn't mind. She said she'd take floor rest as long as she wasn't in the hospital.

They'd left the hospital about an hour after Teddy gave the okay for Sawyer to be discharged into their care, with strict instructions to follow and the promise of a follow up visit with Teddy in three days. Sawyer had protested, but they'd stolen a wheelchair from the hospital, and wheeled her the entire way home, straight into the elevator, into the apartment, dropping her off at the couch.

Now, Sunday afternoon, Arizona had come to share Sawyer's new home for the next few days, claiming the end of the couch as her own after depositing Sawyer's feet in her lap. The pair was mindlessly watching a Myth Busters marathon while Sofia napped and Callie had taken a quick trip to Sawyer's apartment to retrieve the things she'd need over the next few days.

"I can go with you!" Sawyer protested when Callie told her to make a list of what she wanted.

"Nope. You're on couch rest. Make a list," Callie replied firmly. "You stay here. Arizona will stay with you."

Sawyer rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Teddy only let you leave with the promise of constant doctor supervision," Arizona reminded her.

"I didn't know we'd be taking that so literally," Sawyer replied with (semi) feigned annoyance.

Callie had only been gone around fifteen minutes, and Arizona and Sawyer were in the middle of a rousing debate about whether a cup of soda could actually break through the windshield of a travelling car as their current episode claimed, when a knock sounded at the door.

"I got it, you rest," Arizona quipped, chuckling at her own joke as Sawyer rolled her eyes. Which fuelled Arizona's chuckles further.

Arizona was still giggling when she pulled open the door and the smile literally fell off her face. "Mom?" she greeted stunned.

"Arizona," Barbara greeted, throwing her arms around her daughter in a hug as she stepped into the apartment.

When her mother finally pulled back from the hug Arizona could see unshed tears glistening in her eyes. Her dad's plane had left that morning, but it was a 6 hour flight to Boston, so she realized her parents must have passed each other in mid-air.

"I know… I flew across the country with no warning," Barbara started. "But I needed to see you, talk to you, hug you." Her voice waivered a little and Arizona pulled her back into another hug.

"Oh, Mom," she whispered.

"It's your father," Barbara said when Arizona released her. "He's fine," she added quickly. "It's just, Arizona, he… he has another child."

Arizona's eyes unconsciously flickered over to the couch. Sawyer had frozen the moment she heard Arizona say the word mom. She wanted to make a break for Callie and Arizona's room. Or the nursery. Or even the bathroom but her feet wouldn't move.

Barbara turned to follow Arizona's unintentional gaze. She took in the young woman sitting there and the look that passed over her features said that Callie's prediction, that if Sawyer and Barbara ever crossed paths, the older woman would have no trouble identifying Sawyer and Arizona as sisters, had been correct. Barbara took a step back from Arizona.

"Mom," Arizona started tentatively. "This is Sawyer… my s-sister."

The absolute horror that flashed in Barbara's eyes at this confirmation quickly turned to rage. "You knew?" she whispered. Her hand rose up as if on its own accord and slapped Arizona across the face. Hard.

The resounding smack that sounded when skin connected with skin lingered in the stunned silence that followed Barbara's assault. After several moments Sawyer finally found her voice.

"Oh-kaaay," she said slowly. "I'm gonna go…"

"No," Arizona snapped, far harsher than she intended. "No," she repeated, calmer this time. "You just had major surgery. You're not going anywhere."

Barbara's eyes narrowed and she stormed past Arizona. "Sawyer, is it?" she asked. Sawyer nodded. "You show up in our lives and just happen to need surgery, hmm? And now you're here in my daughter's home? Did she _pay_ for your surgery, Sawyer?"

Sawyer looked a little shocked at the accusation before confusion spread across her features. She actually hadn't given a moment of thought to the cost of the procedure and no one had presented her with any kind of bill.

"Yes, Callie and I paid for the surgery," Arizona replied flatly. It hadn't actually been that expensive. Teddy and Cristina had donated their time pro bono so there were really just the hospital fees to cover.

"I - I never asked you to do that," Sawyer stuttered.

Arizona shot her a look like she was being an idiot. Sawyer had no money and she'd saved Callie's life.

"Mhmm, you waltz into my daughter's life and now she's paying for your surgery," Barbara said threateningly. "Anything else you've let her pay for?"

"Umm, school," Sawyer mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Mom," Arizona barked. "You're way out of line. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Mark!" Sawyer shouted, catching sight of Mark coming home to his apartment through the still open front door.

Mark turned and took in the sight of Sawyer, Arizona and Barbara and smirked a little. "Oh this looks fun," he deadpanned.

"Mark's a doctor. I could be under his supervision," Sawyer pleaded.

"Oh, yeah," Mark agreed quickly. "Come on over Soy Sauce."

Sawyer looked to Arizona to make sure it was okay with her sister, but at Arizona's little nod she practically burst from the couch. Mark put out an arm to steady her.

When the two of them had left the apartment, closing the door behind them, Barbara turned back to Arizona.

"Soy Sauce?" she questioned. "She knows Mark and Mark calls her Soy Sauce? And you're paying for her school and surgery? How long have you known her, Arizona?"

"Mom, sit down," Arizona instructed gently.

Barbara shot an angry glare at the seat Sawyer had just vacated and perched on the edge of a chair. Arizona sat on the couch.

"I met Sawyer in August," Arizona replied.

Barbara sucked in a harsh gasp.

"And she's great, Mom," Arizona continued. "What you just said to her… It's not fair to hate Sawyer for existing. That's not her fault."

Barbara's face fell. "I know." She started gently crying again. "I know she's innocent in all of this. I'm just angry, Arizona. At the situation. At your father. And I'm sure she didn't show up in your life just looking for money. I was just overwhelmed… Oh god! I hit you!"

Arizona smiled a little. "It's okay. I kinda deserved it."

"No, Arizona," Barbara replied. "It should never have been your responsibility to tell me about your sister. I was just shocked that you knew her."

Arizona nodded. "That's understandable."

"And a little surprised that you seem like friends."

"We are," Arizona agreed.

"Okay," Barbara nodded, wiping at her tears. "Why don't you start back in August… You can explain your… relationship."

Arizona began with her first encounter with Sawyer, on that fateful day she'd walked up to her in the hospital. She explained the death of Sawyer's mother, Sawyer's dream to finish medical school, and her subsequent endeavour to build a relationship with Sawyer. She had just begun to recount Aria's recent visit when Callie burst through the door with her arms full of Sawyer's things.

"Okay, Sawyer, your room? Spotless. The rest of your apartment? Disgusting," Callie rambled, not looking up as she balanced everything. "Seriously, your roommate is a slob. He meets none of the gay male stereotypes that would be useful in a roommate."

Callie looked up and froze at the sight before her. Barbara gave her a watery smile while Arizona looked immensely relieved at her return.

"Barbara," Callie greeted with surprise as she deposited Sawyer's things behind the couch and hurried around it to sit next to Arizona.

"Hello, Callie," Barbara replied.

"I was just getting to Aria's visit," Arizona supplied.

"Okay," Callie nodded. "So you know how my mother and sister feel about our relationship," Callie started. "But last week, my sister called to say she was in Seattle and she wanted to visit. We asked Sawyer to come along for the evening to play the peacemaker…"

Callie and Arizona switched off in tandem, recounting the events of Aria's visit, the subsequent period where Arizona hadn't been speaking to Sawyer, and Callie's botched carjacking. When Callie explained how Sawyer had pushed her out of the way of the oncoming bullet, Barbara finally interrupted.

"She saved your life?" she whispered hoarsely. "That's the surgery she just had? From being shot?"

Arizona nodded. "After Sawyer was shot, I called Dad and I really gave him an earful. I said… a lot of stuff that I thought was true at the time. And I told him what had happened to Sawyer. That's why he decided to finally tell you the truth. Because he wants to have a relationship with Sawyer. He was here yesterday and…"

Arizona recounted the details of her father's visit and when she'd finished, she glanced at the clock, and she realized she'd been explaining things to her mother for almost two hours.

"I knew," Barbara said finally after a brief silence hung over them. "About his affair in Germany, I knew. But I never would have dreamed that there was another child out there. If I'd known I'd have made sure…" Barbara trailed off.

"I know, Mom," Arizona offered gently.

"I'm going to go check into a hotel," Barbara decided, standing. "I think I need to lie down for a while."

"Do you need a ride?" Callie asked.

"No, I'm fine dear," Barbara smiled.

"Do you know how long you'll be here?" Arizona asked. "Dad flew back to Boston this morning…"

"Your father and I have a lot to talk about," Barbara replied. "I'll catch a flight home in the morning."

"Good," Arizona replied. "I mean - "

But Barbara shook her head to let her know she understood.

"I love you, Mom," Arizona smiled, pulling her mother in for a hug.

"I love you too," Barbara replied. Barbara released Arizona and hugged Callie as well. "I love you too, Callie," Barbara smiled. "I'm so glad you're okay. I don't know what we'd do if we lost you."

When Barbara had left, Arizona sunk back into the couch with a sigh.

"So she knows," Callie stated, dropping down beside Arizona, her hand falling on her wife's knee.

"She does," Arizona nodded.

"And your dad told you the truth," Callie continued.

"It's all out there," Arizona agreed. "I think we're finally done with the secrets and the lies." She blew out a puff of air. "God, when did my family get this dramatic? I feel like we've been living in a soap opera."

Callie laughed. "Maybe, but a prime time soap opera. If this was daytime TV Sawyer wouldn't have been your younger sister, she'd have been your long lost twin, or have tried to murder you in your sleep, or tried to steal me away from you…"

"How many soap operas are you watching?" Arizona asked.

Callie giggled. "Just yours," she said, leaning in to kiss her wife.

"Mmm, good 'cause I'm competitive," Arizona joked.

"Where is Sawyer anyway?" Callie asked. "We're kind of in her spot."

"Mark's couch," Arizona supplied. "Mom was a little heated when she first got here. Sawyer fled as fast as she could."

"Mmm, yes, it's wise to fear the wrath of the Robbins women," Callie joked. "We should go tell her it's safe to come home," Callie said, rising, but Arizona caught her hand and pulled her back to the couch.

Callie dropped with an exaggerated oomph and Arizona smiled at her theatrics before leaning in and capturing her lips in a deep kiss. Callie's hand jumped to the back of Arizona's head to pull her closer and run through her hair while Arizona's hands rest gently on Callie's cheeks. They stayed that way until the need for air forced them apart, and Callie grinned as she asked, "What was that for?"

"For being amazing," Arizona smiled. "I know I've said it before but, Callie, this whole thing, with Sawyer and my parents, it was so hard for me and I know I was all over the place dealing with it and dragging you into this mess with my parents… And I feel like it's kinda over now. Sawyer is my sister, she's our friend and both of my parents know that. I just think we're moving on now and you were so perfect for all of this and I'm so lucky to have you and I love you so much."

"Arizona, you didn't drag me into anything," Callie smiled. "I will always be there. Whatever drama our life throws at us, we will always handle it together. I know that you took up way more than your allotment of the crazy days these past few months, but I don't mind letting you take some of my days if you need them. I am so in love with you Arizona, and I always want to be there for you. For all of the drama or the crazy, and I know you'd do the same for me."

Arizona grinned. "You just keep getting better and better at those speeches."

"I have a good teacher," Callie replied with a smirk, leaning in for one more kiss.

**XXXXXXXX**

One more kiss turns into several more kisses, and so it was a while before Callie and Arizona grabbed Sofia and headed over to Mark's. Entering the apartment, they found Sawyer dutifully lying on the couch while Mark sat in the recliner. Sports highlights played across the TV screen but Mark flicked it off the moment Callie and Arizona entered the room.

"They're here, they're here! Tell them, tell them!" Mark bounced excitedly in his chair.

Sawyer rolled her eyes at him. "How'd it go with your mom?"

"Good," Arizona nodded. "She's sorry about how she attacked you." Sawyer waved her hand dismissively. "And I explained everything that's happened over the last few months and yeah, I think she's gonna be okay."

"Good," Sawyer nodded.

"Okay, tell them now!" Mark grinned.

"Mark," Sawyer admonished.

"Tell us what?" Callie asked.

"Mark and I are in love. We're running away together," Sawyer deadpanned.

"That will never, ever, be a funny joke," Arizona replied flatly and Callie laughed.

Sawyer smirked at Arizona before finally saying. "I got an email from Seattle Grace Mercy West."

"About your surgery?" Arizona asked.

"No, about the surgical internship program, letting me know I was accepted," Sawyer replied a little hesitantly.

"Why didn't you tell us you applied?" Callie asked eagerly. "That's awesome, Sawyer!"

"You didn't even tell me you wanted to go into surgery!" Arizona beamed.

"Well I wasn't a hundred per cent sure that surgery was what I wanted when I had to start applying to internships," Sawyer replied. "And I have gotten in to other programs, but I'd… I think I'd really like to stay in Seattle."

Arizona gave Sawyer a confused look at her hesitant tone. "Are you asking if we want you to stay in Seattle?" Arizona asked. "Because I would miss you like crazy if you moved."

Sawyer smiled warmly. "I'm asking if you'd be okay with me working where you work. I'd be committing to seven more years here. Seven more years that you won't be able to get rid of me."

"I'll never want to get rid of you," Arizona replied sincerely. Sawyer beamed. "Dude, I'm gonna be your boss!" Arizona cried at the realization.

"Me too," Callie grinned.

"Me too," Mark added.

"Oh god," Sawyer rolled her eyes.

"What do you think Soy Sauce'll specialize in?" Mark asked. "'Cause I could see her in plastics."

"No," Sawyer stated flatly.

"Not plastics," Callie agreed. "I could see her in ortho. With her super powers of observation she could handle the artistry."

"No, that attention to detail is what makes her perfect for plastics," Mark countered.

"Oooh, I could see her in trauma," Callie grinned. "She's all easy going and calm, she could totally handle the chaos of trauma."

"No, I'm telling you it's plastics," Mark countered.

As Callie and Mark continued to bicker good-naturedly Sawyer glanced at Arizona, who smiled warmly before throwing an arm around Sawyer's shoulders. "You sure you're ready for seven more years of this?" she asked gesturing to Callie and Mark.

"You'd have to drag me away," Sawyer replied honestly.

"I think I really lucked out in the sister department," Arizona smiled.

"Really, I was just thinking the same thing," Sawyer grinned.

Arizona wrapped her sister in a quick hug before she turned her attention to Callie and Mark's argument. "Guys, give it up, she's totally gonna end up in PEDS…"

**The End :)**

**So I had every intention of finishing DLS and never touching it again. I'm so happy with how this story turned out, and how amazingly it was received, and I didn't want to ruin that by rambling on. Also, I didn't want it to turn into a story about Sawyer. I love her, I really, really do. But I'd like to keep the focus on Callie and Arizona.**

**However… very recently an idea struck me for a sequel. A sequel that I think has the potential to live up to the original. (Because I mean, how often do sequels just **_**suck**_**? Like Pirates of the Caribbean. First one – awesome. Sequel – terrible.) Anyways… I didn't want to write a sequel unless it could live up to the original, and I think this one has the potential to do that.**

**So I am planning a sequel. Yay. But here's the catch. I planned out DLS for **_**months**_**. All the back story, everything happened for a reason, everything was connected. All that was because of planning. And I only just came up with this idea like a week ago. So it's gonna be a couple months before I'll be producing said sequel. I'm talking late June at the absolute earliest. But I promise it will come. If you're interested in reading that, I would suggest you add me to your author alert, so you will be notified when I publish the first chapter of the new story.**

**So that's the end for now. I really hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Which was a lot lol. If you're one of those folks who have been reading along but not reviewing, I'd love to hear your final thoughts. If you've been a faithful reviewer, I thank you profusely and again, I'd love to hear your final thoughts.**

**And just lastly, I want to thank everyone who stuck with this little fic. You guys are awesome. 'Til next time friends!**


	22. Link to Sequel

Hey Folks.

I forgot that I promised to do this, but for those of you who didn't want to follow me as an author, I promised to post the link to the _Dirty Little Secret_ sequel in DLS.

The first three chapters are up, and can be found by pasting the following url behind www. fanfiction. net -

s/8517226/1/Gimme-Some-Truth

If that link gives you trouble (and I have a feeling it might) the story is titled _Gimme Some Truth_. You can find it by going to my profile and selecting it from there, or simply searching the title in the search bar.

Hope you enjoy!


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